Women who get abortions could be charged with murder under proposed South Carolina bill

By Nate Stanley

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    SOUTH CAROLINA (WYFF) — A pre-filed bill in the South Carolina Statehouse would label life as starting at conception and charge those involved in an abortion with murder.

“It defines life as beginning at conception, and it protects every unborn child from that point so that nobody is left behind. We’re trying to make sure that abortion is completely outlawed in South Carolina,” said District 38 Rep. Josiah Magnuson.

Those are the goals for pre-filed South Carolina House Bill 3537. It would label life as starting at conception and thus ending a pregnancy, at any stage, a crime charged as murder.

The proposed bill is receiving backlash from House leaders, including House Democratic Party Leader Todd Rutherford.

“I hope it does not reach the floor, and I hope it doesn’t reach the floor because it is not well thought out. It is ill-conceived, and it could lead to any number of bad things happening to women in this state, again, who should have a relationship with their doctor that is strictly between the two of them,” he said.

He explained possible legal battles if this were to be passed.

“We already have a six-week ban. What they want to do is take it to the point of inception and, in doing so, mess with all kinds of laws, including criminal and civil laws. Because if life begins at inception, nobody has ever created that in a legal framework before. So nobody has any idea how that’s going to end up,” he says.

Rutherford even fears there could be harsh punishments for women who seek an abortion.

“If a fetus at inception [conception] is a child, the death of that fetus could potentially lead to someone getting the death penalty in South Carolina for violating this law,” he says.

Magnuson explains, if passed, the bill would likely come with some amendments.

“I can tell you that there’s never been a pro-life bill, at least in the last years that I’ve been serving, that has passed without, particularly carving out, exceptions for medical emergencies,” he said.

He also did not say whether those found guilty under the proposed bill would be sentenced to the death penalty.

“This bill does not dictate what penalties have to be meted out. That would be something which, as for any homicide case, would be the jurisdiction of the court system,” he adds. “We’re not going to see any sort of investigations of miscarriages and things. That’s something that comes up sometimes; there’s no way to prove that a miscarriage was an abortion, and so you’re never going to see a prosecutor try to prove that.”

Rutherford says the bill highlights extreme views in the state legislature as we head into a new session in 2025.

“What is extreme today may not be extreme tomorrow. I don’t expect them to stop. I do expect that they will continue to try and tell women of the state what to do because it is simply what they do best,” he explains.

Magnuson also says he’s unsure if the bill would be approved by fellow Republicans.

“A lot of these folks that would claim the Republican platform don’t necessarily vote in such a way. The Republican Party platform does affirm that for every unborn child, they have the right to life beginning at conception under the 14th amendment,” he said.

Senate Majority Leader and Republican Lawmaker Shane Massey sent a brief statement saying, “The bill is a house bill that will not get a subcommittee hearing, much less a vote, so senators have not paid much attention to it.”

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