Politics over abortion likely to continue
Staff reports | Although the U.S. Supreme Court this week reaffirmed the constitutionality of abortion in a 5-3 decision described as the most sweeping in more than 20 years, don’t think that the politics of abortion will take a back seat in South Carolina.
On Monday, the court struck down two provisions of a Texas law that restricted abortion. In its decision on Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt, the court essentially said states couldn’t put undue burdens on women seeking abortion through restrictive rules, such as a Texas rule that doctors performing abortions had to have admitting privileges at hospitals within 30 miles of a clinic and that clinics had to be ambulatory surgical centers.
“Both the admitting privileges and the surgical center requirements place a substantial obstacle in the path of women seeking a previability abortion, constitute an undue burden on abortion access, and thus violate the Constitution,” U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer wrote in the majority opinion.
S.C. Sen. Brad Hutto, D-Orangeburg, said the decision that reaffirmed a woman’s right to choose should send a clear message to abortion opponents that abortion is legal and constitutional and attempted restrictions by opponents have to be grounded in science and medicine, not legislative whimsy.
“I would hope that the case would be read carefully by those who want to introduce multiple restrictions going forward and understand that they’re asking for an unsuccessful lawsuit,” Hutto said, adding that the state had better ways to spend resources than on lawsuits that tilt at windmills.
“These groups that want to either overturn Roe [v. Wade] or undermine Roe through the court system should get the message now that that’s not going to happen,” he said. “There are a lot of other issues that face people in South Carolina. If we could spend our legislative time on securing quality education, a good road system and better health care … that’s a much more productive use of our time for the people of South Carolina.”
This week’s decision likely will have a few impacts:
Pro-choice advocates likely will go on the offense. They will fight abortion restrictions, as evidenced in a Monday statement by Planned Parenthood after the ruling: “Already this year, South Carolina leaders passed a restrictive law that bans abortion after 20 weeks with no exceptions for victims of rape and incest. In fact, since 2011, state lawmakers across the country have passed more than 316 restrictions on safe, legal abortion, and have introduced 442 in the first six months of 2016 alone, despite the fact that Americans overwhelmingly support a woman’s right to access safe, legal abortion without government interference.”
Abortion opponents will keep pushing, too. They will protest outside clinics. They will try to interrupt how clinics operate, as they did last year when they complained clinics were violating health regulations. While no violations impacting women’s health were found, the politically-inspired regulatory attack made lots of headlines and led to a S.C. House review. Abortion opponents also will continue to press their numerical advantages in state legislatures to propose anti-abortion measures, such as “personhood” bills and other limitations.
The new decision may impact the presidential election. Both sides will use it to mobilize supporters to get them to the polls.
Analyst looks at South Carolina’s runoffs
New Jersey accountant David Beaudoin doesn’t have any ties to South Carolina, but enjoys analyzing what happens in elections. Beaudoin, who lives in Washington, N.J., made these observations on his blog, Local and Special Elections:
- Four of five Statehouse incumbents on the June 28 ballot lost, a rarity. Democratic Sen. Creighton Coleman and Republicans Lee Bright, Mike Fair and Larry Martin lost. Only state Rep. Bill Bowers won his Lowcountry race — and by less than 200 votes. “From 2008 through 2014, only 8 South Carolina state legislative incumbents faced primary runoffs, and all but one won.”
- Most runoff winners came in first in the primary. “Nine of yesterday’s thirteen primary runoffs (69%) were won by the candidate who finished first in the primary two weeks earlier. That is very much in line with recent historical averages. In the 20 state legislative runoffs that occurred from 2008 to 2014, 70 percent (14 out of 20) were won by the candidate who finished first in their primary.”
- Voter turnout. State Senate runoffs had about the same number of voters as in primaries, while House runoffs had lower voter turnout. An exception: Bowers’ race in House District 122 in which there was an increase in turnout by 17 percent.
- More data can be found here. Thanks for sending us the analysis, David.
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