While other states debate abortion bans, S Carolina sits out

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — While nearby states are acting quickly to move more restrictive abortion laws through their legislatures, South Carolina lawmakers have barely touched the issue so far in 2019.

Lawmakers have introduced at least nine different abortion bills in the South Carolina General Assembly in 2019, from a near outright ban on abortions to banning specific abortion methods.

None of them have received public hearings, even as legislatures in Tennessee, Georgia, Mississippi, Florida and Ohio push forward bans on abortions when a fetal heartbeat can be detected, which is about six weeks into a pregnancy. Current South Carolina law allows abortions until the 20th week.

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster ran for re-election as an opponent of all abortions and said earlier this year he would sign a ban. The climate in the federal court system also appears to be on the side of people who want to restrict abortions with Republican President Donald Trump already appointing two U.S. Supreme Court justices and a number of other federal judges anticipated to overturn court rulings if they get a chance.

But the only time abortion has come up in the South Carolina Statehouse in 2019 was at last week's budget debate in the House, which passed a proposal in the spending plan preventing state money from going to Planned Parenthood, which Republicans said was a blow against an abortion provider.

The organization receives less than $100,000 a year from the state and it goes for birth control and family planning for people on Medicaid.

The groups pushing for stricter rules on abortions aren't worried about the slow progress. This is the first year of a two-year legislative session in South Carolina and they expect some abortion bills to be discussed in a few weeks now that...