S. Carolina Repub: Drop 20-week abortion ban because women will fake being raped to get one

Republicans in South Carolina's state Senate had to work to outmaneuver one of their own on Tuesday after he threatened to filibuster a ban on abortions after the 20-week mark because he opposed exceptions for incest and rape victims.

According to the Huffington Post, state Sen. Lee Bright tried to filibuster the bill, arguing that it would encourage women to falsely report rapes.

"After 20 weeks if you wanted to get an abortion you could go and say you were raped and you could have the abortion," Bright said. "You wouldn't be denied. There's no police report."

Bright also argued that, even in the case of a woman being sexually assaulted and immediately taken to a hospital, the fetus "had a right."

But his opposition to the bill put Bright opposite other anti-abortion conservatives. a href="https://www.thestate.com/news/politics-government/politics-columns-blogs/the-buzz/article21037332.html" target="_blank">The Columbia State reported that other Senate colleagues worried that a Bright filibuster would force the issue to be pushed back until the next legislative session.

"I'm not comfortable with the exceptions," fellow Republican Larry Grooms said. "But if we can't save them all, let's save what we can."

However, the State reported on Tuesday night that Bright abandoned his threat to block the bill, paving the way for a 37-7 Senate vote that maintained the rape and incest exceptions. Bright accused fellow GOP members of backing down from the anti-abortion group S.C. Citizens for Life.

"This is on their backs now," Bright said.

[h/t Jezebel]