On Oct. 1, South Carolina lawmakers will hold a hearing for Senate Bill 323. If this bill passes it will effectively ban all abortions with no exceptions for rape, incest, or a fatal diagnosis of the fetus or mother, certain types of birth control, put restrictions on in vitro fertilization, and make it illegal to share any information about abortions. Under this bill, if health care professionals share information about how to get a legal abortion in another state they could face 30 years in prison and the woman could receive the death penalty. Abortion is already banned after six weeks of pregnancy in South Carolina. This bill would definitively ban all abortions and place heavy restrictions on other forms of birth control.
Abortions are a very taboo subject and I fully understand that writing about it is risky. However, this bill is insane. The hypocrisy in the bill is ridiculous. South Carolina’s lawmakers don’t want abortion to be a choice for women, yet they are restricting preventative measures men and women can take to prevent unwanted pregnancies. Lawmakers are claiming to be pro-life, but they are placing restrictions on IVF, a way for people to have children, and invoking the death penalty on women who obtain an abortion. This is no longer about banning abortions- it’s about stripping women of their rights and choices.
I truly don’t understand how anyone could support this bill. It’s disgusting. There are zero exceptions for rape or incest. Doctors will be instructed to induce labor rather than perform an abortion if the woman’s life is in danger. A woman could be sentenced to death because she received an abortion that saved her life. There are severe consequences that come with this bill that lawmakers either refuse to or simply can’t acknowledge.
What lawmakers really fail to realize is that birth control, abortions, IVF, and miscarriage management is all health care. Birth control can be used to regulate menstrual cycles, manage endometriosis and polycystic ovarian syndrome, prevent ovarian cancer, treat cancer, and prevent transmissions of sexually transmitted diseases. Abortion related medications and procedures are used to manage miscarriages, treat fibroids and Cushing’s syndrome, induce labor, and treat postpartum hemorrhages. These mediations and procedures are multipurpose. Banning them for one specific use will lead to a disastrous domino effect.
This bill doesn’t just restrict a woman’s right to choose what to do with her body. It also bans everyone’s right to free speech. Any citizen of South Carolina can be charged if they share information about how and where to receive an abortion. The fear and isolation this bill would create would have harrowing effects. People will refuse to help women in fear of being criminalized. Women deserve compassion and the freedom to discuss their options. These conversations are meant to be had by families, friends, and trusted medical professionals, not with politicians.
This bill is possibly the harshest abortion ban proposed in our country’s history. What I will never understand is why lawmakers care so much about what women choose to do with their body. I give those who are against abortion the respect to follow their beliefs and choose to not get an abortion. Why am I, and millions of others like me, not given the same respect? I don’t care who does or doesn’t get an abortion. If I unexpectedly get pregnant I can’t definitively say if I would or wouldn’t get an abortion, but I would like the choice. I would like the choice to access all forms of birth control and I would like the choice to go through unrestricted IVF. That is all women are asking for: the choice of what happens to their body.
