Abortion Rights Talking Points
The House Judiciary Committee has sent H. 5399 to the full House for a vote that could is expected when legislators return to session August 30. Five legislators on the Judiciary Committee did not vote. The time is now to call our legislators and press them on the important heath, social, and economic issues this bill raises and ensure our voices are heard.
Here are talking points suggested by the state League, which has been fighting hard against this legislation. You can read Lynn Teague’s testimony at the House hearing on Tuesday, August 16, here; and the testimony she gave to the Senate Medical Affairs Committee on Wednesday, August 17, here.
You can find your legislator’s contact information on the State Legislatures website.
Talking points
Existing and proposed abortion bans:
Violate explicit protection for privacy rights in our state constitution.
Represent a clear danger to the health of pregnant persons and the practice of medicine in South Carolina.
Impose the religious beliefs of some on all of us. This Is clearly religious establishment, a violation of our national and state constitutions.
Violate rights of free speech and invade the private physician-patient relationship, as proposed in the Senate bill. S.1373 prohibits providing “information [about how to get an abortion] to a pregnant woman, or someone seeking information on behalf of a pregnant woman, by telephone, internet, or any other mode of communication.”
Further jeopardize movements for racial and economic equality. Black women and all underserved communities already experience inequitable barriers and limited access to adequate healthcare services. These draconian proposals will worsen our horrific black mortality rate.
South Carolina is not prepared. Our state:
Has not expanded Medicaid or taken other measures to improve our existing inadequate provisions for maternal and child health.
Has made no provision to upgrade Department of Social Services (DSS) services to respond to the increased number of unwanted children who are born.
Has made no provision for the increased needs of severely impaired infants who would be born under the proposed legislation. This includes expansion of palliative care for those who have short survival expectations as well as long-term health, social, and educational services for the severely impaired who survive.
More info
As stated by the very conservative South Carolina Medical Association, existing and proposed legislation endangers the health of pregnant persons and the practice of medicine. “Law enforcement has essentially been invited into the exam room to sit in judgment of this gut-wrenching decision which should be reserved for a physician and a patient and her family.”
Many major denominations teach respect for potential life but do not share religious beliefs that assign full “personhood” to fertilized eggs, embryos, and pre-viability fetuses. They do not support extreme abortion bans and emphasize support for the moral agency and religious freedom of pregnant persons.
In contrast to ideas promoted by those religious denominations promoting abortion bans, science tells us that human reproduction is a continuous cycle and does not assign special moral meaning to any stage, including that of the fertilized egg or implanted fertilized egg. A fertilized egg is simply one stage further beyond an unfertilized ovum or a sperm.
Jewish leaders in Florida have already filed suit against state law and the suit has been joined by Unitarians.
Just since SCOTUS ruled to overturn Roe, Episcopal and Presbyterian USA churches have passed resolutions in opposition to legal bans that interfere with the religious freedom of their members.
Many of the communities targeted with voter suppression are the same communities that will be most impacted if reproductive freedom is also taken away. South Carolina already has a horrific black maternal mortality rate. The existing “heartbeat” bill and the even more draconian proposals now under consideration will make this worse.