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Topics: Women's Health, Sex and Relationships, Health, US News, World News, Parenting
Madison Burgess
Topics: Women's Health, Sex and Relationships, Health, US News, World News, Parenting
Lawmakers in an American state are preparing to push an extreme anti-abortion bill that could make terminating a pregnancy completely criminalised.
And the broad language used means that worryingly, it could also affect access to birth control and reproductive health information.
Senate Bill 323, also known as the Unborn Child Protection Act, is set to make its way through the legislative process in South Carolina, beginning on 1 October with a specially called Senate subcommittee meeting.
If this legislation were to go through, it would redefine life as beginning at conception, putting an almost complete ban on abortion and equating it with homicide.
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It would also remove exceptions like rape, incest, and fatal foetal anomalies and makes it a felony for anyone to share any information regarding how to obtain an abortion, and possibly criminalise leaving the state to receive one.
So, it would essentially become illegal to 'aid and abet' someone seeking an abortion, even by providing information over the phone or internet.
This broad language has left advocates worried as it blurs the lines between abortion care and contraception.
It raises serious concerns over whether doctors and health professionals would be able to discuss certain options.
This is because, as noted by the ACLU of South Carolina, the bill would redefine contraception to exclude anything that prevents ovulation or the implantation of a fertilised egg.
That means that under the bill, certain kinds of IUDs, emergency contraceptives, and at least one kind of hormonal birth control pill would no longer be considered contraception.
1 October is the only chance the public will have to share their testimonies on the bill, which is already garnering worldwide attention.
Speaking to ABC News 4 about the proposed bill, a local mother from Charleson, Toni Nardone, said: "There's just nothing worse than feeling disregarded and disrespected in a state that you've chosen to call home and chosen to raise a family in.
"The restrictions that we already have on South Carolina are already causing so much pain for mothers and families and people who want to start families in this state. And this is just going to exacerbate that."
The state of South Carolina currently operates under a six week abortion ban, with some limited exceptions.
If you’re past six weeks pregnant, you may need to travel out of the state to get an abortion unless you qualify for one of them.
The exceptions are:
However, some of these exceptions would go out of the window if Senate Bill 323 were to pass through, and it would no longer be permitted to travel out of the state at all to get an abortion.
Nardone said: "I had to leave the state of South Carolina to get an abortion because we learned that as I entered my second trimester of my second pregnancy that our daughter had a fatal foetal anomaly.
"They were shocked I hadn't miscarried yet.
"I wouldn't be able to leave the state to get the help I needed and anyone who helped me, my husband who drove me, my mother in law who watched our son, would be a criminal under this law."
For help, support and advice about abortion, contact the British Pregnancy Advisory Service on 03457 30 40 30, 7am to 6pm Monday to Friday, 8am to 4pm on Saturdays, and 9.30am to 2.30pm on Sundays.