The Problem with the Personhood Bill

Governor McMaster endorsing Personhood SC

Representative Trey Gowdy announced today  that he will not seek reelection this year and that he plans to leave politics and instead reenter the justice system. He is the 38^th Republican to announce that he will not return to the House next year. This number is much higher than it has been in previous years. It�s also unique to the Republicans. There are only 17 Democratic representatives leaving Congress this year. What could be the cause of this mass exodus?

Representative Trey Gowdy of South Carolina

            It�s like when a big ship starts to sink. People start to jump into lifeboats and get out as quickly as possible. Perhaps these Republicans foresee something bad happening in the future and they do not want to be around to deal with it. After all, Special Counsel Robert Mueller might be interviewing President Trump in the next few weeks which means the investigation will be ending soon. Perhaps they are sick and tired of the constant gridlock on Capitol Hill which has only increased since President Trump took office. Perhaps they are tired of having to deal with President Trump who has effectively cut the Republican Party in half. Perhaps it�s a combination of those reasons. Perhaps it�s none of them.

            Tonight�s main story pertains to a controversial �personhood� bill that is currently being debated by the Senate Judiciary Committee at the State House. This bill would outlaw all abortions within South Carolina and would proclaim that life begins at conception. It goes without saying that this bill is something that I completely disagree with. In their effort to make a statement and please evangelicals, Senate Republicans like Richard Cash have created a headache that is completely unnecessary.

There are three important things this legislation will do if passed:

1.     Outlaw abortion (no exceptions for rape or incest).

2.     State that life begins at conception.

3.     Outlaw in vitro fertilization.

The first component of the bill is a direct slap in the face to progressives and people who are pro-choice. It takes away a mother�s ability to choose which is the center of this bill�s controversy. The second component of the bill is quite unnecessary and plain dumb. Sure, the South Carolina government can proclaim that life begins at conception but that doesn�t mean anybody will change their mind on the issue.

The third part of the bill is the really bad part that both pro-life and pro-choice supporters should be against. In vitro fertilization (IVF) helps men and women with infertility issues conceive a child. The fertilization happens outside of the body through a medical procedure called insemination and after enough development, the embryo is placed inside the women�s uterus where it grows until birth. This procedure is unrelated to the abortion debate and outlawing it helps nobody. It hurts people who want to have children but cannot physically do so.

Dr. Slowey of Coastal Fertility Specialists told the Georgetown Times that, �We have cancer patients who are trying to preserve their fertility by freezing eggs or freezing embryos, [this bill] takes that away.�

You know you are doing something wrong when you are denying cancer patients the ability to have children. Even some Republicans at the State House conceded that this bill is too extreme like Representative Sandy Senn of Charleston who said that she saw �grandstanding at play.�

I know what you are thinking: �Jacob, Republicans have been drafting these kinds of bills for decades now. Surely you know that it won�t go anywhere.�

Well, this one might go somewhere. Republicans in the Senate are confident that the bill will reach the Senate floor after amendments are added and technicalities are ironed out. That would be a step further than many past bills seeking to illegalize abortion ever reached.

If this bill does become a law (McMaster supports it so a veto is not a possibility) there would be a flood of lawsuits and it will end up being decided by the courts, maybe even the Supreme Court. However, the Supreme Court is conservative-controlled so that might not even stop it from passing. Maybe enough moderate Republicans will realize how bad this legislation is and vote against it. We shall see. That�s all for this week.

Governor McMaster's letter endorsing the bill.

Side note: I read in some places that this bill would ban birth control and would prosecute women who miscarry. I did not include that information in this article because these details were not reported by every outlet that I used to research this topic. I also thought it was too vile and wrong to be true.