South Carolina Prenatal Protection Act

This bill aims to change the South Carolina Code of Laws by introducing the "South Carolina Prenatal Equal Protection Act" Which adds parts to define "person" to also include fetuses at any part of pregnancy.

South Carolina Code of Laws: a collection of all the rules and laws that people in South Carolina have to follow.

Fetus: a word for a baby growing inside its mother's womb before it is born.

This bill:

• Calls abortion murder, which is a crime, with some exceptions.

  • Abortion: a medical treatment that ends a pregnancy

  • Murder: killing someone else

• Adding parts to the law to make abortion assault, which means someone has been physically hurt.

• Get rid of things that might pressure pregnant people into having abortions.

• Defines "fertilization" as when a human sperm meets a human egg.

• Defines “person” to mean an unborn child from fertilization until birth.

• Explains "Spontaneous miscarriage" as the natural or accidental end of a pregnancy.

The elected leaders in South Carolina introduced this bill because they see a fetus as “human life, created in God’s image.”

Because of this, the bill claims to:

• Follow the U.S. Constitution’s rule for equal legal protection.

• Follow the rule in the South Carolina Constitution for equal protection.

• “Protect the lives of unborn [people] as fiercely as those of born [people].”

• Ensure due process protections for everyone governed by such laws.

• Consider fetuses “unborn children” from the earliest moment of fertilization 

• Support “pregnant mothers.”

If this bill passes, one of the new parts of the law defends pregnant people at risk of dying or getting hurt.

If this bill passes, one of the new parts of the law deals with what will happen when a pregnancy accidentally ends in specific situations.

If this bill passes, people can be forced to testify in cases where the subject is an unborn baby. They cannot be punished for what they say, unless they lie.

• Testifying: telling what you know about something, usually in a courtroom, to help explain what happened.

If this bill passes, these changes only apply moving forward and don’t apply to things that happened before they start.

If this bill passes, current rules about abortion aren’t canceled but take a backseat if they clash with this new law.

These changes start after the Governor, the main leader of South Carolina, gives it the green light.