The Dismemberment Abortion Ban Debate

One of the things that has happened over the past week that I have not really talked about is the Kanye West/ Donald Trump earthquake that has turned Twitter upside-down. One thing I often do when analyzing an anomaly like this in our political environment is look at the reaction from both sides and find hypocrisy and double standards within their responses. I do not look to a single person as a mouthpiece for an entire ideology, but you can get a gist of what a lot of people are thinking on one side by looking at news articles or in this case especially, the thousands of tweets pertaining to the subject.

    Those to the left of the aisle mostly disavowed West and cited his mental breakdowns and eccentricity as reasons that he is out of his mind and therefore, lacking credibility. This intolerance was noted by a lot of conservative commentators who chastised liberals for being intolerant even though they claim to be proponents of tolerance.

            On the right, West received praise from all kinds of people, including the President who quoted one of the artist�s tweets and typed, �Thank you Kanye, very cool!� Not only was this the whitest thing that I have read in a while, it reeks of hypocrisy. How many conservative commentators have slammed Hollywood actors and musicians for talking about politics and then turned around and applauded West for doing the same thing?

            The answer: A lot.

            This week�s main story once again pertains to the State House and abortion. While the Personhood bill has stalled in the Senate, another bill recently passed by the House is set for debate in the Senate that would outlaw dismemberment abortions. These types of abortions are only implemented rarely during cases where the fetus is severely disabled or if there are major health complications present. The doctor carries out the abortion by essentially ripping the fetus out of the womb piece by piece. It is a graphic procedure which is why many Republicans are in favor of passing this bill rather than the Personhood bill. It also has a greater chance of being upheld by the Supreme Court rather than the blanket abortion ban proposed in the Personhood bill. Now, I do not agree with this bill at all. I am a pro-choice fellow but besides my ideological reservations with the nature of these bills, there are practical reasons to why this bill should not be passed. Outlawing this type of abortion, however graphic and repulsive that you might think it is, would endanger the lives of thousands of women and unborn children by forcing them to have a potentially botched abortion or an even more dangerous birth. 

Senator Larry Grooms speaking in favor of the bill.

            The kicker in this situation is that the Democrats are planning to filibuster to prevent the bill from being voted on and most likely passed. And since the legislative session ends next week, this puts all other bills currently sitting behind this abortion bill in jeopardy of not reaching the governor�s desk. In summation, this bill is preventing other, more pressing pieces of legislation from being passed like the rates and refunds related to the SCE&G nuclear debacle.

            At first glance, one might point fingers at the Democrats who are filibustering as the people to blame for putting all other bills in jeopardy during this session. After all, they are the ones who are preventing the bill from being passed and allowing the Senate to move on to other matters. However, blaming the Democrats for stalling the General Assembly in this situation is short-sighted. It�s like a terrorist making an insane demand as ransom for a hostage and then blaming the person who refused to meet the demand.

            Senator Kimpson of North Charleston is one of the Democrats who is filibustering and told me that, �The crux of the bill is to eliminate a women�s right to choose.� He also stated that the first amendment proposed for this bill would add the personhood component and resurrect the Personhood bill. He says they have the votes to prevent cloture which means that they will be able to filibuster until the end of session, killing the bill.

            As of 8:40 PM on Wednesday night, the filibuster during the second reading of the bill was ended with a 25-17 vote but there will be another filibuster during the third reading. Bills are read three times before they go up for a vote.

            That�s all for this week.