Exceptions split Republicans in South Carolina abortion ban

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina senators are moving toward a showdown on an abortion ban that does not include exceptions for pregnancies caused by rape or incest.

Debate is expected to restart Thursday with a final vote looming after two attempts to get the exceptions back in the bill failed the day before — one up to six weeks into a pregnancy and another up to 20 weeks after conception.

There will probably be at least one last push before a final vote on the abortion ban. Thirteen states have so-called trigger laws designed to outlaw most abortions when the U.S. Supreme Court threw out the constitutional right to end a pregnancy in June.

“I can count," said Republican Sen. Josh Kimbrell, who wrote the six-week proposal. "I know this bill will not pass without exceptions”

There are 30 Republicans in the 46-member Senate, but a number of them are conservatives who have digested developments elsewhere since Roe v. Wade was overturned and say they don’t want 14-year-old rape victims to have to give birth. On the other side are Republicans that view any abortion as ending a life.

Democrats are mostly letting them argue among themselves, refusing to help more moderate Republicans and keeping the bill as strict as possible to try to defeat it.

If the legislation is approved and signed into law, South Carolina would join Indiana as states that have passed near-total abortion bans since the monumental Supreme Court ruling.

The debate started Wednesday with the three Republican women in the Senate speaking back-to-back, saying they can't support the bill unless the rape or incest exceptions are restored.

Sen. Katrina Shealy said he 41 men in the Senate would be better off listening to their wives, daughters, mothers, granddaughters and looking at the faces of the girls...