Abortion ban faces exceptions fight in South Carolina House

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina House members plan to debate a new total ban on abortion Tuesday with no exceptions for pregnancies caused by rape or incest even as some Republicans in the GOP-dominated chamber suggested they can't vote for the bill as written.

But if the exceptions are put into the bill, the chamber's most conservative members could join with Democrats to kill the bill, too.

On the day before the debate, one of the most conservative House lawmakers said 20 Republican have signed his letter saying they would not commit to voting for the total ban with the rape and incest exceptions, which with the votes against from 43 Democrats would be enough to kill the bill.

“With a solid Republican majority in the South Carolina Legislature, there is no reason or excuse we should have to negotiate a lesser position,” Republican Rep. Stewart Jones said.

The state currently has a six-week ban but the South Carolina Supreme Court suspended the law earlier this month while the justices decide on a Planned Parenthood lawsuit that says the ban is an unreasonable invasion of privacy under the state constitution. The decision leaves South Carolina's abortion ban at 20 weeks for now.

Supporters of the total ban in South Carolina want to follow the lead of Indiana, which earlier in August passed a total ban to go into effect on Sept. 15 with exceptions for rape, incest and if the mother's life is in danger. West Virginia's House and Senate couldn't agree on stricter abortion rules in a July session.

Thirteen states have so-called trigger laws designed to outlaw most abortions when the U.S. Supreme Court threw out the constitutional right to end a pregnancy in June.

South Carolina leaders have watched those developments carefully, as well as events several weeks ago...