South Carolina Senate Panel to Hear 24-Hour Abortion Wait Bill on Wednesday

State   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Mar 17, 2009   |   9:00AM   |   WASHINGTON, DC

South Carolina Senate Panel to Hear 24-Hour Abortion Wait Bill on Wednesday

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
March 17
, 2009

Columbia, SC (LifeNews.com) — A South Carolina state Senate subcommittee will hold a hearing on Wednesday on a bill that requires abortion businesses to give women a 24-hour reflection period before an abortion. The Senate Medical Affairs will take up H 3245 and then the full committee will hear it Thursday.

The current waiting period is just one hour and state legislators believe 24 hours gives women considering an abortion more time to reflect on its risks and alternatives and will lower the number of abortions.

Rep. Greg Delleney, a Republican, is the chief sponsor of the bill, which the state House approved on a 83-23 vote last month.

If an ultrasound is performed, the waiting period begins after the ultrasound. If no ultrasound is performed, the waiting period begins after the woman receives written materials describing the risks of abortion and alternatives to abortion such as adoption.

Delleney says South Carolina requires a 24-hour waiting period before other actions such as obtaining a marriage license and refinancing a house, yet abortion is a life and death decision.

"If you wait 24 hours to be married and three days before you can buy a house," Delleney said. "I don’t know how this is such a drastic bill to give the mother 24 hours to determine if she wants to go through with this procedure."

South Carolina Citizens for Life strongly supports the bill and is urging pro-life advocates to contact members of the panel and the subcommittee to urge votes for it in order to further reduce the number of abortions statewide.

Also last month, the South Carolina state House passed the Born-Alive Infant Protection Act to protect babies who survive abortions.

The born alive bill declares that any child who is born alive, including those who survive abortion, have the same constitutional rights as any other person.
An infant born alive “deserves the same rights as anyone else,” Representative Delleney said.

There were no attempts to weaken the bill which passed 105 to 5 and mirrors the federal bill former President Bush signed into law in 2002.

Related web sites:
South Carolina Legislature – https://www.scstatehouse.net
South Carolina Citizens for Life – https://www.sclife.org

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