South Carolina Legislature Forges Agreement on 24-Hour Abortion Waiting Period
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
June 17, 2010
Columbia, SC (LifeNews.com) — Early Thursday morning, lawmakers from the South Carolina state House and Senate reached an agreement on language that gives women contemplating an abortion 24 hours to review information that could lead her to choose life for her unborn child.
South Carolina Citizens for Life had strongly objected to all attempts to weaken the Woman’s Right to Know Act of 1995.
Legislators had considered including excptions for rape and incest and forcing pregnancy care centers and pro-life physicians and medical facilities to perform and date stamp obstetric ultrasounds that could then be used by abortion practitioners.
“We did not lose a thing,” said Greg Delleney, a Republican legislator who was the the champion of pro-life legislation.
“We preserved our gains. We improved the bill to include links to pregnancy care centers. There is an authentic 24-hour waiting period if someone downloads pro-life materials from the internet or receives the materials in the mail," Delleney said. "There are links on the DHEC website to crisis pregnancy centers. This is a great victory.”
Mary Spaulding Balch, the attorney for the National Right to Life Committee who is the director of state legislation says the current Right to Know Act is "a good law" that was made better with the waiting period.
“You now have a real reflection period that can make a difference between life and death," she said.
SCCL told LifeNews.com the new language enhances the current Right to Know law by creating an authentic 24-hour waiting period, providing Internet links on the State Department of Health and Environmental Control website to pregnancy centers that offer free ultrasounds, and maintaining the one-hour waiting period between the time the abortion practitioner does the ultrasound and the abortion.
Faye Hill, director of the Lowcountry Pregnancy Care Center said the agreement is a good one for pro-life interests.
“This is definitely a victory for the women of South Carolina and pregnancy care centers in being able to get information out about services we can provide," she said.
Lisa Van Riper, President of South Carolina Citizens for Life added: “I think this is another example of legislation assisting in guaranteeing that women have access to life-saving information."
“We are proud as members of South Carolina Citizens for Life to have been on the front line of working with House and Senate members in providing support and information as they have enhanced a woman’s right to know in South Carolina," she said.
The conference committee language with the waiting period had the support of South Carolina Citizens for Life, the National Right to Life Committee, the South Carolina Baptist Convention and the Palmetto Family Council.
SCCL informed LifeNews.com that all six members of the conference committee signed the report, according to Representative Delleney: House members, Representatives Delleney, Wendy Nanney, R-Greenville, and Ted Vic, D-Chesterfield, and Senators Kevin Bryant, R-Anderson, Jake Knotts, R-Lexington, and Brad Hutto, D-Orangeburg.
The United State Supreme Court ruled in 1992 that states may constitutionally require a 24-hour waiting period before an abortion.
Related web sites:
South Carolina Citizens for Life – https://www.sclife.org
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