Rep. Rob Harris Prefiles Bill to Abolish Abortion in South Carolina
COLUMBIA, SC — Today, State Representative Rob Harris prefiled H. 3537 the South Carolina Prenatal Equal Protection Act, which would abolish abortion in South Carolina by providing equal protection to every preborn child.
Current South Carolina law denies preborn children the equal protection of the laws by:
Allowing clinician-provided abortions during the first six weeks of pregnancy, and
Allowing self-managed abortions throughout all nine months of pregnancy
Current South Carolina law places no limits on abortions up to six weeks. Even beyond, mothers are able to abort their children with absolute legal immunity through self-managed abortions. Harris’ bill would protect all babies at fertilization by repealing sections of South Carolina criminal code that give mothers complete legal immunity for aborting their preborn children even if they do it knowingly, willingly, and without any coercion.
The situation in South Carolina is dire for the preborn. In 2023 alone, 15,000 South Carolina preborn babies were legally murdered under South Carolina law. Over 4,810 of these murders occurred on South Carolina soil,[1] while another 8,650 occurred out of state.[2] Another 1,538 South Carolina mothers killed their babies through DIY at-home abortions using the abortion pill.[3]
Representative Harris is a veteran in the fight to abolish abortion. In 2023, he filed a bill of equal protection, which attracted 11 additional co-authors. Republican leadership opposed the bill and it died without receiving a hearing.
When the legislature was passing the state’s current heartbeat bill, Representative Harris attempted to amend the bill into an equal protection bill. Though Harris’ amendment was voted down, over 30 Republicans voted in favor of it.
This fall, South Carolina Republican leadership drew criticism from grassroots Christian conservative organizations for their refusal to include addressing the abortion genocide in their list of legislative priorities. Meanwhile, the South Carolina Freedom Caucus, of which Representative Harris is a member, vowed to advance legislation to “Protect Every Unborn Child.”[4]
Representative Harris and his allies in the SC legislature are on the political front lines of the war against abortion. If you live in South Carolina, please contact your state legislators and ask them to co-author H. 3537, the South Carolina Prenatal Equal Protection Act.
NOTES:
SC DHEC, 2023 Abortion Statistics, https://scdhec.gov/sites/default/files/media/document/Abortion-Report-2023-Part-2-Aug.22-Dec.31.pdf
Maddow-Zimet I, Philbin J, DoCampo I and Jones RK, Monthly Abortion Provision Study, updated Oct. 18, 2024, https://osf.io/k4x7t/.
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2797883, https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanam/article/PIIS2667-193X(22)00017-5/fulltext