Some South Carolina Republicans pause at abortion ban brink

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — For the past three decades, South Carolina lawmakers have chipped away at abortion access, requiring ultrasounds, parental consent and 24-hour waiting periods, and banning the procedure early in the pregnancy: first after 20 weeks, then after six.

But now that the U.S. Supreme Court has cleared a path to ban abortion entirely in the state, some are taking a step back. Politicians, mostly Republican, are noting what happened this month in Kansas, where nearly 60% of voters rejected a ballot measure that would have allowed the state's conservative Legislature to ban abortion. Republican Donald Trump received 56% of the 2020 presidential vote in Kansas. Trump won 55% in South Carolina.

“The Kansas vote affirms what most of us know," said Sen. Sandy Senn, the only Republican senator to vote against the six-week abortion ban that passed 18 months ago. “It’s the people in my party, most all of them men, yelling the loudest that women should have zero choice from the moment of conception.”

Senn says that while she personally believes “all babies should be born,” she also thinks people should be able to decide for themselves whether to continue a pregnancy during the first few months.

South Carolina lawmakers are also watching other Republican-dominated legislatures. Indiana passed a nearly total abortion ban Friday after several days of debate, while West Virginia’s House and Senate couldn’t immediately agree on further restrictions.

A total abortion ban with exceptions only if the life of the mother is in danger has just started its way through the South Carolina General Assembly. Committee hearings and floor debates in the House and Senate will have to take place before any bill lands on Republican Gov. Henry McMaster's desk.

Republican legislative...