The decades-long controversy of pro-life versus pro-choice has been a large part of America’s social setting since the passing of Roe v. Wade in 1973. Conservative states have attempted to pass legislation to defy the Supreme Court ruling, many landing on the ever so popular, heartbeat bill. After versions of the bill were passed by Ohio, Georgia and Missouri in 2018 and 2019, it was no surprise when South Carolina legislators followed suit.
In October, the South Carolina State House attempted to change the heartbeat bill to exclude the instance of victims of rape and incest. This would have meant that regardless of the condition that the fetus was conceived under, an abortion would be illegal after a heartbeat is detected, which for most women is about 6-8 weeks. Many women are not even aware that they are pregnant at that point.
Fortunately, this is not the version of the bill that was given to the Senate, but the “improved” one isn’t much better. The heartbeat bill that is currently being discussed on the South Carolina Senate floor was revised to say that victims of rape and incest can get an abortion after a heartbeat is detected, only if they file a police report beforehand.
According to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network, only 230 out of every 1000 accounts of rape are ever actually reported to police. One could argue that making this amendment to the heartbeat bill, women will be more encouraged to step up and report their attacker, but this isn’t the platform the lawmakers are coming from.
South Carolina government officials know, because of networks like RAINN, that the majority of women that are victims of rape or incest are not going to report it, which means that they can not have an abortion performed on them.
At this point, how can these legislators deem themselves pro-life? How can they say that they care so much about the lives of these unborn fetuses while they are blatantly ignoring the physical and mental health of the mothers who carry them? It is nothing short of full-blown hypocrisy.
This is just another way that women are degraded by the patriarchy. There is a 1 in 5 chance of a woman being sexually assaulted in her life, and this becomes an even higher chance in the case of a domestic dispute. Then, after being in a body that no longer feels like it belongs to them, they are legally forced to carry the child of their attacker for a further 9 months. After giving birth, they do have the option of giving the child up for adoption, but that’s only if they want to be chastised for contributing to the already overfilled and corrupt foster system and forcing a child into that.
South Carolina legislators are making it impossible for a woman to have control over her own body and they are challenging a Supreme Court ruling every step of the way. Only time will tell if the Senate will pass this bill, but if it is passed, it is already expected that Governor McMaster will hold no opposition.
This bill is one of the most dangerous pieces of legislation to pass through the South Carolina Congress in the last few years. Just because abortions are illegal, does not stop women from getting them, it only prevents them from having them safely. Women will revert back to being given abortions in unsanitized homes with nonregulated equipment and put themselves in danger in lieu of carrying a child to term that they don’t want.
This doesn’t even touch on the increased risk of suicide that women who are victims of rape-related pregnancy are prone to. Many young women who are in states that have abortion bans will sometimes commit suicide because they believe that there is no other option. Why is it that these pro-lifers, these legislators, these men, only care about the unborn fetus and not about the human being that is carrying it?
