South Carolina's Senate passes 6-week abortion ban

By Rabia İclal Turan

WASHINGTON (AA) - South Carolina’s Senate passed an anti-abortion bill Tuesday that would ban most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy.

The move came despite a filibuster by five women senators, three of them Republicans, who argued that the bill would make it impossible for anyone to get an abortion in the state.

After a heated debate in the Republican-led Senate, the bill passed with a 27-19 vote and will now go to the desk of Republican Governor Henry McMaster, who has promised to sign it.

South Carolina currently allows abortions until 22 weeks into a pregnancy.

Abortion rights advocates say that most women don’t know they are pregnant at six weeks and they would challenge the ban in court.

The state’s House of Representatives passed the bill last week in a 82-33 vote largely along party lines.

A number of Republican-led US states have moved to restrict abortion after the Supreme Court overturned the Roe v. Wade decision last June, ending the constitutional right to an abortion.