Abortion rights advocates in SC collecting signatures for symbolic ‘repeal the ban’ petition

COLUMBIA — Advocates for abortion rights are launching a petition in hopes of showing the Legislature’s ruling Republicans that South Carolinians support repealing the six-week abortion ban signed into law last year.

Groups backing the effort, announced Tuesday outside the Statehouse, include the League of Women Voters, the American Civil Liberties Union of South Carolina, the Palmetto State Abortion Fund, Columbia NOW and Planned Parenthood.

They recognize the petition will carry no legal weight and cannot even put an advisory question on the ballot, no matter how many signatures they collect. Unlike in other states, South Carolina law does not allow for voter-sponsored ballot initiatives.

Only legislators — by super-majority approval in both chambers — can ask voters whether the state constitution should change. During last year’s debate, Republican leaders repeatedly thwarted attempts to ask voters whether the state constitution should specifically allow abortions.

But the abortion rights advocates hope they can demonstrate public support. They intend to present the results to legislators before the regular session ends in May.

The petition has zero ability to persuade change this year. But what happens next year may depend on who’s ousted in either the June primaries or in November.

“We are going to run a petition campaign, even though it may not get us anywhere,” said Vicki Ringer, director of public policy for Planned Parenthood Votes! South Atlantic. “But I believe that the sheer numbers of petitions that we collect, and people that sign, will give a mighty message to legislators.”

On the flip side of the debate, the Legislature’s staunchest abortion foes plan to try again next year to for a stricter abortion from the outset of pregnancy — a proposal that passed the House but was repeatedly rejected by senators.

“The issue is not going away,” said Holly Gatling, long-time director of South Carolina Citizens for Life. “I believe that most South Carolinians support a limitation on abortion with exceptions.”

The law pushed through the Legislature last year and upheld by the state Supreme Court in August bans abortions once an ultrasound detects cardiac activity, which can start at roughly the sixth week of pregnancy. Limited exceptions are allowed to prevent the mother’s death or lifelong health problems or when doctors diagnose fatal fetal anomalies. It also allows victims of rape or incest to get an abortion, though only through 12 weeks and only if they agree to the crime being reported to law enforcement.

According to a Winthrop Poll released amid the debate last May, 37% of South Carolinians supported a ban on most abortions after six weeks, while 43% opposed it. Broken down by party, just over half of those who self-identified as Republican supported the ban, compared to 27% of self-identified Democrats.

“We want these lawmakers to know there are people in every single district who want them to repeal this ban,” Allison Terracio with Planned Parenthood South Atlantic told the SC Daily Gazette.

The groups do not have a set goal for the number of signatures they want. But they intend to collect them statewide, she said.

The coalition hopes to help elect legislators to the Statehouse who will support repealing the law.

“We want people who are outspoken about our issues to be elected,” Terracio said. “And we have also seen that lawmakers, regardless of what their party is, do listen to their constituents and will stand up for our rights.”

One thing is almost certain: Abortion will again be a major topic in the Statehouse next year, since abortion foes hope to win enough seats in the Senate in November to push through a near-total ban.

Governor’s 2018 order again rejected

Also on Tuesday, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals again rejected Gov. Henry McMaster’s attempt to prevent Medicaid patients from using Planned Parenthood for non-abortion health care services, such as breast and cervical cancer screenings, birth control, and testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections.

“Today’s ruling makes clear what we’ve long said: State politicians cannot block people with low incomes from choosing the Medicaid provider they know and trust — and that includes Planned Parenthood affiliates,” Alexis McGill Johnson, CEO of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said in a statement.

It marked the third time the Fourth Circuit has ruled on McMaster’s attempt to take Planned Parenthood off Medicaid’s provider rolls in South Carolina. The decision, which stems from a 2018 executive order that never took effect, changes nothing. But McMaster could again appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, which has previously declined to hear it.

Last June, the nation’s high court sent it back to the Fourth Circuit for yet another review.

“This case marks the third time that we have been called upon to resolve the same legal issue,” reads Tuesday’s ruling, noting the court’s answer has not changed.