by MARK CORRAL || The bad news: South Carolina’s celebrated Heartbeat Bill was passed just twelve months ago, yet it has not saved a single unborn baby from death. In fact, under our “super majority” Republican General Assembly, abortions have gone up by 17 percent since 2018 – hardly worth praising.
Yet Republicans will hit the campaign trail this summer touting their pro-life “victories.” While the Heartbeat Bill had good intentions, it did practically nothing. After the passing of the Heartbeat Bill, most Republicans checked the “pro-life” box and moved on. Many have absolutely no intention of trying to end legalized abortion.
According to the SCGOP platform, Republicans believe “the right to life is the first inalienable right, without which there can be no other rights. We believe that all human life has intrinsic worth and therefore support vigorous legal protection at all stages of life …”
I wholeheartedly agree. However, many Republicans in Columbia claim this pro-life rhetoric on the campaign trail, but when the opportunity arises to support equal protection for all human life from conception, all we get are crickets.
The SC Republican platform further states: “We believe the Fourteenth Amendment’s protection applies to unborn children. Unborn children should be classified as legal persons not as legal property.”
If that’s what GOP lawmakers believe, why don’t they legislate like it? In other words, why can’t the super majority Republican General Assembly pass legislation that matches their profession?
If these politicians believe life begins at conception, and that life has constitutional protections under the Fourteenth Amendment, where are the bills of equal protection that match that profession? The excuse we often hear is that we must work within the confines of Roe v. Wade. Really? Says who? I contend that we do not, in the same way northern states chose not to work within the confines of unjust federal laws and court opinions regarding slavery. Instead, they defied them.
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A Change in Direction
We need to change our strategy if we really want to end legalized abortion. Instead of passing incremental “pro-life” bills which say when, where and how parents can kill their unborn baby, we need courageous lawmakers to ignore unconstitutional court opinions and pass bills of equal protection – bills like slavery abolition laws in the mid 1800’s.
History tells us of a time when our country had federal laws and court rulings that allowed for the evil of slavery and even the incarceration of citizens that harbored run-away slaves.
I am sure glad the northern states were not like our current South Carolina Republican lawmakers. Instead of passing laws that bowed down to the federal government, northern states declared federal edicts unconstitutional, passed and enforced safe harbor laws in defiance of federal tyranny. In other words, the northern states told the Feds to pound sand. We need that type of courage to end the holocaust of legalized abortion. Slavery ended after states began to defy the federal government. Legalized abortion will not end unless the states begin to defy Roe v. Wade by enacting and enforcing laws that provide equal protection for all unborn babies.
Around a dozen states and counting have bills as I have described above, with South Carolina being one of them. Bills that would ignore Roe and provide equal protection for all pre-born babies. House Bill 4046, The Unborn Victims of Violence Act, declares Roe v. Wade unconstitutional, calls abortion what it is, murder, and provides pre-born babies equal protection under the law.
Section 16-3-2350 of the bill reads, “South Carolina hereby exercises its sovereign authority, consistent with the Constitution of the United States, to declare and treat as void the opinions and judgments of the Supreme Court of the United States in Roe v. Wade that claim to prohibit states from providing the equal protection of the laws to any unborn child.”
The bill further states that the Palmetto State will enforce the act, “without regard to Roe v. Wade.” Currently there are only seven House representatives that have supported this bill by co-sponsoring, with Representative Jonathon Hill being the author. Will the real pro-life Republicans please stand up?
Hope on the Horizon
There is good news, however. There is a growing movement happening across the state. Citizens are no longer accepting the rhetoric of “pro-life” Republicans but instead are calling them to legislate in accordance with their profession.
You believe life begins at conception and worthy of equal protection? Prove it.
Bring forth Bills that match what you claim to believe. On Tuesday May 4, 2021 over 500 citizens packed inside the State House to call our lawmakers to ignore Roe and establish justice for the pre-born. Our voices were ignored. Despite being ignored and even laughed at, the movement continues to grow. The numbers are growing, voices are getting louder, pressure is building, and equal protection for the pre-born will be established.
Next month, Saturday, March 5 at 11:00 a.m. the movement will continue as hundreds, possibly thousands, will gather at the statehouse for a statewide Rally to Resist Roe. The author of H. 4046, Jonathon Hill, along with other leaders in the national movement to End Abortion by resisting Roe will be speaking. If you want to see legalized abortion end in our state, you need to attend. If you want to know why the current strategy from the “pro-life” industry isn’t enough, you need to attend. If you want to know how we can end legalized abortion in the Palmetto state without Roe v Wade being overturned, you need to attend.
For more information about the upcoming Rally to Resist Roe, please visit AbolishAbortionSC.com.
Will the real pro-life Republicans please stand up?
Soli Deo Gloria.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
Mark Corral is the director of South Carolina Right to Life (SCRTL), a newly formed organization calling for the immediate end of legalized abortion, without exception and without compromise. Mark also serves in pastoral leadership for Grace Covenant Church in Rock Hill, S.C.
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