Claim: Republicans propose bill that could subject women who have abortions to the death penalty

Question

According to NBC, Republicans in South Carolina have proposed a bill that could subject women who have abortions to the death penalty. After a quick search, it appears that this is happening within several red states. Is this true? If so, what bill was proposed and is there any data in regard to how likely the bill will be passed?

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/sc-republicans-propose-bill-subject-women-abortions-death-penalty-rcna75060

Answer 1

Yes, this is sadly true. According to government records, this bill was proposed by Republican South Carolina lawmakers and currently has 17 sponsors as of March 16, 2023. The Bill is dubbed the 'South Carolina Prenatal Equal Protection Act', and aims to "define 'person' to include an unborn child at any stage of development and to ensure that an unborn child who is a victim of of homicide is afforded equal protection under the homicide laws of the state". This means that any abortion that occurs under this bill would be considered homicide, and the woman responsible would be subject to a life sentence or death penalty. This Bill follows a trend of Red states passing stricter abortion laws, however South Carolina is the only state who has proposed one which explicitly calls for death upon desperate mothers. It is impossible to say whether or not the Bill will actually be passed due to its severity, however of the 18 states which have passed similar abortion bans, 8 have been blocked by courts according to an article by The Hill.

Official Document:  (https://www.scstatehouse.gov/sess125_2023-2024/bills/3549.htm)

The Hill Article: (https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/3898383-south-carolina-gop-lawmakers-propose-death-penalty-for-women-who-have-abortions/).

Comments

Thorough explanation that explains the situation and claim well. Also, nice job providing two legitimate sources.

Answer 2

This is true, however from what I have been reading it is all just talk at this point... politicians testing to see how far they can go and how much backlash they can get. This doesn't mean it won't go further or that its not a serious issue because these politicians still have their extreme  motives and agendas. "Alabama State Rep. Ernie Yarbrough introduced such a bill in Alabama,  saying   'If you look at Alabama law,  you will see there is an exemption that says that abortion is not murder in our state. It’s time we change that.'"  This is clearly a serious (and scary) statement, and other states such as Arkansas, Georgia, South Carolina, Kentucky and Oklahoma have the same mindsets. The article, which I will link below, also says that both Kentucky and North Carolina allow the death penalty as potential punishment. 

https://www.aclu.org/news/reproductive-freedom/no-one-should-face-the-death-penalty-for-accessing-health-care

Answer 3

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/9-republicans-south-carolina-abortion-death-penalty-bill-rcna75383

According to this article, this is unfortunately true. However, it has lost support from more than a third of its initial supporters over the last few weeks.

Answer 4

Yes this is true. Republicans have proposed or talked about proposing such a type of bill to the South Carolina House of Congress. However, I would like to note that many officials in the South Carolina Government believe that the law will not pass, even if it was proposed. According to this article, South Carloina Senate Majority Leader, who is a republican from Edgefield, "But Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey, R – Edgefield, said the legislation has “zero chance” of becoming law. 'What we’ve got over here, it’s just a rogue thing that’s going on over there,” Massey told reporters this week at the State House. 'It’s not going to have support in the House, I suspect.'" Hence, there is some talk of it, but it looks a majority of republicans do not support this bill.

Link to the article:

https://www.live5news.com/2023/03/17/sc-gop-leaders-bill-that-could-impose-death-penalty-abortions-wont-become-law/

Answer 5

Unfortunately this is true. According to an article from Kaiser Health News, the South Carolina Prenatal Equal Protection Act of 2023 redefines a person to include a fertilized egg. This means that it would also be defined as a person under the state's homicide laws, which means that a woman who recieves an abortion could receive the death penalty.

https://khn.org/morning-breakout/gop-bill-in-south-carolina-would-make-abortions-punishable-by-death/