McMaster joins supporters of bill to ban abortions after fetal heartbeat detected

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WCSC) - South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster joined hundreds of people at the Statehouse in Columbia to show support for the so-called “Heartbeat Bill,” which would ban most abortions once a fetal heartbeat can be detected.

People came from various parts of the state to show their support.

Supporter Douglas Henderson attended the rally.

“I’m from Greenville, SC and I think it’s wrong to kill babies,” Henderson said.

They are calling on the state Senate to advance the bill to the governor’s desk. The bill has already advanced in the House.

Reports say a fetal heartbeat is detected around six weeks into a pregnancy.

"The right to life is fundamental to everything that we stand for whether you read the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence or the Bible," McMaster said. "It is the right to life that is the foundation, profoundly involved in everything good that happens in this word."

McMaster says if passed in the Senate, he will sign the bill into law. Exceptions are included for victims of rape incest or if a woman’s health is jeopardized.

The board chair for A Choice to Make Pregnancy Resource Center, Lisa Jones, came from Florence to show her support.

“We fundamentally believe that life is in the mind of God and we are all valuable, we are all fearfully and wonderfully made and that every life matters," Jones said.

The Associate Director of Policy for the Women’s Rights and Empowerment Network, Ashley Lidow, opposes the bill.

“The six-week abortion ban would ban abortions when people don’t even know their pregnant and is really political interference on what should be a decision between a woman with advice from their medical provider,” Lidow said.

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