COLUMBIA, S.C. — The Human Protection Act was back on the table on Wednesday.
That's the bill that would outlaw abortion in almost all cases in the state.
The House of Representatives debated several parts of the bill including parental consent for minors.
“We all have the choice to do what’s right or to do what's wrong that’s called freewill," Representative Terry Alexander said.
Representatives debated on what language to keep and remove from the bill, the House’s latest effort to outlaw abortion. This one is more restrictive than the Senate’s version, which still allows the procedure up until a fetal heartbeat is detected.
Representative Josiah Magnuson supported an amendment to remove all exceptions, including rape and incest.
Representative John McCravy worried how that might affect the bill’s chances of passing.
“It was very difficult for me to put exceptions in this bill but we have to think about the best bill we can get in South Carolina," McCravy said.
The house tabled that amendment, leaving the exemptions for rape and incest intact for now.
Representative Travis Moore presented an additional amendment that calls for full parental consent for minors who may have been a victim in one of those cases.
“This is a process where a minor less than 17-years-old whose parents will not consent to have an abortion can go to the government and have a family court judge supplant the judgment of her parents and it grants a 15-year-old the right to get an abortion," Moore said.
That proposal also failed.
Representative Heather Bauer also put forward a constitutional amendment asking South Carolina voters to decide the fate of abortion in the state.
“What are you all afraid of? So we have the freedom to change the Constitution a lot of you have kind of tiptoed around today. The power belongs to the people we have to let the people decide," Rep. Bauer said.
That too didn’t pass.
The discussion will continue Wednesday, February 16.