By Robert Kittle
The South Carolina Senate passed a bill Tuesday afternoon that would ban abortions at 20 weeks of pregnancy and later, except in cases of rape, incest, severe fetal anomaly, and when the mother’s life is in danger. After a routine final vote in the Senate Wednesday, the bill goes back to the House to see if lawmakers there agree to the Senate’s changes. The House version did not include exceptions for rape, incest, and severe fetal anomaly. If the House doesn’t agree with the changes, a conference committee will try to work out a compromise version.
Sen. Lee Bright, R-Spartanburg, had been filibustering the bill. He’s pro-life, but was against exceptions for rape and incest. Tuesday morning, he brought to the Statehouse three women who explained why.
Rebecca Kiessling is a lawyer, wife, and mother. She told reporters, “I was conceived in rape when my birth mother was abducted at knife point by a serial rapist. I owe my life to the law being there to protect me before Roe versus Wade. I owe my life to legislators who recognize that mine was a life worth saving, even in cases of rape.”
Juda Myers was also conceived in rape, and says it’s not cruel to require a rape victim to carry her rapist’s child to term. “It takes the pain of the horrible rape and gives the woman something else to focus on. When you look at a baby, what’s your thoughts? ‘Aw, look at that precious little baby.’ It’s the same thing for a mother, even though she was raped,” she says.
While they’re both products of rapes, Elaine Riddick knows the raped mother’s perspective. She was raped at the age of 13 and gave birth to her rapist’s child at 14. “My son is the most beautiful, the most loved person in the world. I don’t know what I would have done or where I would be without my son. Even though my son was conceived in rape, there was no way in the world that I was going to get rid of him,” she says.
But senators ended Sen. Bright’s filibuster Tuesday afternoon and passed the bill with the exceptions for rape and incest. Bright says he thinks the bill as passed would prevent very few abortions, if any, because all a woman who wants an abortion at 20 weeks or later has to do is claim she was raped.