South Carolina and Pennsylvania‘a latest attacks on Abortion rights

October 22, 2019 3:31 PM

Both states are considering banning abortion at 6 weeks. In South Carolina, state senators held a subcommittee hearing on Tuesday on House bill 3020, which, like the Pennsylvania bill, would ban abortion after a heartbeat can be detected. On Tuesday, the subcommittee voted to advance the bill to a full committee hearing. The members also voted to strip an exception for rape and incest from the bill.

Because they ban abortion before a fetus can survive outside the womb, the bills run counter to the Supreme Court’s decisions in Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, which established and reaffirmed Americans’ right to an abortion. Beginning in 2018, such bills passed around the country, in states like Iowa, Georgia, and Ohio. But one by one, all of them have been blocked in court.

To some degree, this was part of the plan. Many sponsors of the bills (and of Alabama’s more sweeping ban on abortion at all stages of pregnancy) have said they intended them to be challenged so they could make it to the Supreme Court and serve as a vehicle to overturn Roe.

posted by Homo neanderthalensis (15 comments total)

Governor Wolf:

Let me be clear: I will veto any abortion ban that is put on my desk.

posted by octothorpe at 3:55 PM on October 22, 2019 [47 favorites]

The Supreme Court has swung and the laws are going to come in many states. It is frustrating and depressing.
posted by interogative mood at 4:04 PM on October 22, 2019 [5 favorites]

Every time I cross the border from New York into Pennsylvania, I'm always staggered at the number of Trump billboards. I mean, long before the election cycle - like, they never came down after 2016, but somehow even more went up?
posted by The Underpants Monster at 4:09 PM on October 22, 2019 [7 favorites]

The state of PA would be fucked if Governor Wolf didn't block all the idiotic stuff that the Republican legislature and Senate want to do. He's won handily twice but the districts are so gerrymandered that the Republicans keep holding onto control of the two houses.
posted by octothorpe at 4:19 PM on October 22, 2019 [27 favorites]

I just wanted to add - I hope my previous comment doesn't come off as some snot-nosed New Yorker looking down their snotty nose at some dumb benighted otherlings. I have deep family roots in Pennsylvania, have loved my trips there all my life, and have never thought of our states as that different, especially at the regular-folks level (except for the snacks at the Turnpike rest stops, you guys are weird). Which is why the signage always takes me aback.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 4:27 PM on October 22, 2019 [10 favorites]

Dems have a shot at the PA House, FWIW. Need to pick up 9 seats.
posted by Chrysostom at 4:38 PM on October 22, 2019 [9 favorites]

Reminder to support local abortion funds. (South Carolina does not have an abortion fund, but Carolina Abortion Fund covers North and South Carolina).
posted by dinty_moore at 5:00 PM on October 22, 2019 [13 favorites]

This is why, even though we moved away over a year ago and have been in pretty rough financial waters, I have kept up my monthly donation to the SC chapter of Planned Parenthood.
posted by Scattercat at 5:46 PM on October 22, 2019 [5 favorites]

You know those “cost of living” calculators that suppose to show you how much money you would need to make to afford housing, groceries, etc.., in another city? Does anyone have that for social/political issues? Reproductive freedom, hate crimes, gun violence, LGBTQ rights, social safety net programs, maternal health outcomes by race and economic factors-these would all be nice metrics to have when considering where to put down roots.
posted by amanda at 9:21 PM on October 22, 2019 [9 favorites]

It is hard to balance the feeling that I abandoned my home in its time of need with the feeling that I got out just in time before politics went from bad to awful.
posted by scose at 12:35 AM on October 23, 2019 [5 favorites]

At six weeks you'll just be coming up on your second would-be-missed period. Good luck even realizing you're pregnant that early, especially if you're not very regular.
posted by heatherlogan at 6:30 AM on October 23, 2019 [4 favorites]

The stupid grandstanding culture war bills are just part of the perpetual election campaign. They are not meant to become law. They are meant to become controversies.
posted by srboisvert at 7:42 AM on October 23, 2019 [2 favorites]

The problem is that we have a SCOTUS that absolutely has the power to shut down challenges to these laws, and has openly signaled that they're willing to be party to this.
posted by zombieflanders at 7:51 AM on October 23, 2019 [3 favorites]

The Cheeto wasn't supposed to be president either. Every once and a while one of these slips through until it is over turned (if it'll be over turned now) and irreparable harm is done.
posted by Mitheral at 7:52 AM on October 23, 2019 [4 favorites]

At six weeks you'll just be coming up on your second would-be-missed period. Good luck even realizing you're pregnant that early, especially if you're not very regular.

Depends on how they are counting pregnancy. The standard counting start from the first date of your last period, resulting in two weeks of non-pregnancy being counted. So really, six weeks would be just two weeks after your missed period, which is like, no time at all to tell.

And actually, to overshare (is it oversharing? maybe its just enough share) I had a miscarriage at around that mark this summer. The angry, fed-up-at-all-this-bullshirt part of me really wishes I had done something crazy like taken a picture of it and like, protested with "this is what six weeks along looks like". Because "it" is nothing resembling anything at that point.

I mean, I never would have done it... but it's a nice thought.
posted by CPAGirl at 9:41 AM on October 23, 2019 [8 favorites]