Abortion floor debate splits South Carolina Republicans

By JEFFREY COLLINS
Associated Press

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The South Carolina Senate’s three Republican women all said they could not support an abortion ban that did not include exceptions for pregnancies caused by rape or incest. Two different attempts to get the exceptions back into the bill failed later Wednesday. Senators adjourned Wednesday evening without a final vote. Republicans are facing off against one another over the ban. On one side is a core group that views any abortion as ending a life. On the other 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 or force a mother to carry to term a fetus unable to live outside the womb.