Should SC voters decide abortion access? Some senators are pushing for a ballot question
After a decision by the Florida Supreme Court to allow voters opportunity to decide whether a right to abortion access should be added to their state’s constitution, South Carolina Senators raised a similar ballot measure.
Three Democratic state Senators — Margie Matthews, D-Colleton, Darrell Jackson, D-Richland and Tameika Devine, D-Richland, sought Wednesday to bring the abortion question to the people of South Carolina via a ballot question in November. The amendment would’ve let voters decide whether to enshrine a woman’s right to an abortion in the state’s constitution, but was ultimately shot down.
“We’re here to represent the people of South Carolina,” said Matthews. “If you believe you’re doing the right thing for all the people of South Carolina, men, women and babies, then you should have no problem with putting this (issue) to the people of South Carolina.”
This week, Florida’s, which also has a six-week abortion ban that was upheld by its Supreme Court, became the latest state to approve a ballot question involving whether woman should have a constitutional right to abortion access up until viability during a pregnancy.
More than a dozen states have supported placing the question of abortion rights on their ballots. Seven states have adopted their referendums and, so far, three others will put the question before voters this November. Another eight states have approved placing the issue on the ballot, but are awaiting the requisite amount of voter signatures.
South Carolina does not allow constitutional amendments to be added by voters or initiative. Instead, only lawmakers can add a constitutional amendment as a ballot measure before voters — something they’ve done in the past to measure public sentiment on certain issues.
In fact, the Senate approved a ballot measure Wednesday, seeking a constitutional amendment relating to voter rights. That sparked some Democrats to suggest Republicans were being hypocritical.
In an exchange between state Sens. Chip Campsen, R-Charleston, and Darrell Jackson, D-Richland, Campsen said that “certain things raise to a constitutional provision and other things don’t.”
“Are you saying (the life of babies) don’t rise to a constitutional level, it’s not that important?,” Jackson replied.
Campsen said a constitutional amendment to support abortion access was not relevant to voter rights and that he wasn’t prepared to speak on the issue.
Short of a ballot measure, a constitutional amendment would require a 2/3 vote by both the House and Senate before being approved.
“What are you afraid of, the truth or the right thing?,“ Matthews asked her colleagues. “You afraid somebody might say ‘Hey, I believe in God, I believe in church but I believe that we should separate the two?.’ I’ve said all along, you will find nobody that’s more pro life than me, I’m just not pro forced birth.”
