Our view: Draconian abortion bill is totally nuts

A terrible trio of Upstate male state senators is at it again seeking to trample on South Carolina women, reproductive rights, freedom and free speech.

They now want to criminalize abortions so South Carolina women who receive the procedure, even apparently in another state, could face a felony charge that could lead to 30 years in prison — or potentially even the death penalty.

Using the logic of these guys, maybe South Carolina’s women senators should propose a law to send South Carolina men to jail if they get medical treatment for testicular and prostate cancer.

Yes, both scenarios are nuts. Literally.

But that hasn’t stopped ultra-conservative S.C. Sen. Richard Cash, R-Anderson, and two minions — S.C. Sens. Rex Rice, R-Pickens, and Billy Garrett, R-Greenwood — from stirring the abortion pot in a poorly written bill to try to make South Carolina’s already extreme six-week abortion ban even more extreme. They want to make it illegal to abort any fetus — even in the case of rape or incest.

Here’s what else these so-called public servants want in a bill that unfortunately is getting a subcommittee hearing on Oct. 1. Their bill seeks to make it illegal in South Carolina to:

Prescribe, sell, conspire, give, aid or abet use of any drug to a woman or use equipment to induce abortion.
“Recruit, harbor or transport” a pregnant minor to another state for an abortion.
Provide information to a pregnant woman or someone on behalf of a pregnant woman on how to self-administer abortions or get an abortion. Also proposed to be illegal: abortion doula services, referrals to abortion providers and compensation for referrals.
Host or maintain a website with information directed at helping South Carolina women to get an abortion.

Three years ago, Cash, Rice and Sen. Danny Verdin, the Laurens Republican who chairs the committee where the strict bill now resides, poked a free speech bear in an abortion proposal to criminalize the news process and people’s ability to share information. And like three years ago, sponsors of the new bill still want to keep information about women’s reproductive health alternatives, including out-of-state options, off of the internet.

In 2022, Rice said, “Obviously that is an extreme position that myself as a cosponsor of the bill would like to address. We don’t want that information provided.” He admitted back then that the 2022 sponsors were not attorneys (Garrett is, however), and added, “I think there’s some stuff that obviously the [Senate] attorneys will say you can’t do that, and we’re going to have to listen to those concerns.”

But that’s not stopping this proposed unconstitutional infringement on the rights of women and free speech in 2025.

State senators should throw out this crazy proposal and keep it from moving forward because this new effort just sounds like old fascism in new clothing. Let’s keep Texas politics out of South Carolina.

Visit the City Paper’s website to learn how to acquire women’s reproductive health services outside of the state.