Republicans are taking the next step in their war on women. The latest proposal in South Carolina was to give the death penalty to women who have abortions. It didn't pass, but there were 21 Republicans who supported it.
Writing about the vote, Rolling Stone, Tessa Stuart explained that the "South Carolina Prenatal Equal Protection Act of 2023" would redefine a "person" as a fertilized egg at any point of conception. Essentially meaning that even a zygote would have the same rights as a child and thus would equate homicide if aborted.
A zygote cannot live outside the body. In fact, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists categorize deliveries before 37 weeks as early. The University of Utah Health Care says a fetus can't normally survive outside of a pregnant person prior to 24 weeks. The survival rate of premature babies born after 28 weeks increases to 80 percent or more.
The proposed South Carolina law didn't specify if prosecutors or police would investigate miscarriages as crimes.
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Stuart went on to cite Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC), who spoke out about the bill as part of a "deeply disturbing" trend in the U.S. to go after women who have abortions or even miscarriages.
“To see this debate go to the dark places, the dark edges, where it has gone on both sides of the aisle, has been deeply disturbing to me as a woman, as a female legislator, as a mom, and as a victim of rape. I was raped as a teenager at the age of 16,” Mace said. “This debate ought to be a bipartisan debate where we balance the rights of women and we balance the right to life. But we aren’t having that conversation here in D.C. We aren’t having that conversation at home. We aren’t having that conversation with fellow state lawmakers.”
