Although anti-abortion activists are on the same side as conservative Republicans when it comes to managing an unborn fetus, these activists are now suggesting the GOP is taking its anti-abortion crusade too far.
Several anti-abortion groups have come out in opposition to the South Carolina bill, which seeks to classify abortion as a homicide.
The bill would make those who follow through with an abortion eligible for the death penalty.
According to reporting by Newsweek, several Representatives for anti-abortion groups lamented the effort to criminalize women who choose abortion.
However, many expressed hope that they didn’t believe the bill would pass and become law.
In January, the GOP-led state legislature of South Carolina introduced the South Carolina Prenatal Equal Protection Act of 2023.
The bill proposes making changes to South Carolina’s criminal code, expanding the definition of “person” to also include an “unborn child at any stage of development.”
The bill seeks to guarantee an unborn child receives “equal protection under the homicide laws of the state” if the child is “a victim of homicide.”
In South Carolina, those convicted of homicide can be sentenced to death.
Besides the possibility of being sentenced to death for abortion, the law also doesn’t make exceptions for incest or rape.
However, it does carve out an exception for those forced into carrying out an abortion if they had been “compelled to do so by the threat of imminent death or great bodily injury.”
Presently, South Carolina has a 22-week Abortion ban, but the rescinding of Roe v Wade has emboldened Republicans in the state to pursue stricter abortion rules.
