The Quickie: South Carolina Gov Announces Special Session, Legislature to Near Total Abortion Ban 

Welcome to “The Quickie” — Planned Parenthood Action Fund’s daily tipsheet on the top health care & reproductive rights stories of the day. You can read “The Quickie'' online here.

In today’s Quickie: SC to go into special session to pass near total abortion ban, Gov. Cooper to veto NC abortion ban at reproductive freedom rally tomorrow, and our weekly state fights recap. 

SOUTH CAROLINA GOV ANNOUNCES SPECIAL SESSION, LEGISLATURE TO PASS NEAR TOTAL ABORTION BAN: Yesterday, South Carolina Gov. McMaster announced a special legislative session set to begin on Tuesday, May 16, giving anti-abortion politicians additional time to pass SB 474, a proposed ban on abortion after about six weeks of pregnancy. South Carolina House lawmakers have vowed to take up the bill immediately upon the start of the special session. If House lawmakers pass SB 474, then it would return to the Senate for concurrence before going to the Governor’s desk for signature. 

“The fact that anti-abortion legislators are again resorting to wasting more taxpayer money on yet another special session to ram through a dangerous abortion ban truly shows how extreme our leaders have become,” said Vicki Ringer, Director of Public Affairs for Planned Parenthood South Atlantic. “Lawmakers are obsessed with controlling the decisions and bodies of women in this state while ignoring soaring rates of maternal and infant mortality and economic insecurity.”

S. 474’s six-week ban is even more onerous than the abortion ban struck down by the South Carolina Supreme Court in January with even more limited exceptions and two mandated in-person visits. Abortion bans are a public health crisis: South Carolina already ranks 43rd in the country with the highest maternal mortality rates with Black women at even greater risk.  

Read more at AP. 

TOMORROW: GOV. COOPER TO VETO NORTH CAROLINA 12-WEEK ABORTION BAN AT RALLY FOR HEALTH CARE FREEDOM: Tomorrow, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper will officially veto the proposed 12-week abortion ban bill, which includes numerous other restrictions on care, at a “Veto Rally for Health Care Freedom” in downtown Raleigh. Gov. Cooper will be joined by AG Josh Stein and Planned Parenthood Action Fund President Alexis McGill Johnson, along with members of the North Carolina Reproductive Freedom Coalition, including Planned Parenthood Votes! South Atlantic.

Gov. Cooper and the North Carolina Reproductive Freedom Coalition have been working to pressure state lawmakers to sustain the governor’s veto of the highly restrictive ban that would decimate access to abortion both in the state and across the South. North Carolinians need just one or two more legislators voting to sustain the veto to block the abortion ban from taking effect.  

WHERE: Bicentennial Park in Raleigh, NC. The event will also be live streamed. 

WHEN: 10 AM-12 PM ET

WHO: Gov. Cooper, AG Stein, PPAF President Alexis McGill Johnson, Chief Medical Officer at PPSAT Dr. Katherine Farris, patient advocate Tina Marshall 

STATE FIGHTS ROUND UP: Abortion bans are once again moving in South Carolina and Nebraska.

Proactive efforts:

• This week, Vermont Gov. Phil Murphy signed S. 37 and H.89 into law. The new measures aim to shield providers of legally-protected reproductive health care services, including abortion and gender-affirming care, from harassing lawsuits brought by out-of-state actors. It would also prohibit malpractice insurers from discriminating against providers of such care and would create new insurance coverage requirements for abortion and gender-affirming care, including eliminating cost sharing. 
• The Rhode Island Senate Judiciary committee held a hearing on SB 32, the Equality in Abortion Coverage Act (EACA), which would expand abortion insurance coverage to recipients of the Rhode Island Medicaid program. HB 5006, the House companion bill has already been approved. 
• Republicans in the Oregon Senate continue to boycott the state legislature in an effort to block pro-abortion and trans rights bills from passing. Among other provisions, the Reproductive Health and Access to Care bill (HB 2002) would protect providers’ ability to provide reproductive and gender-affirming care in the state; expand access to these critical services for rural Oregonians, Oregonians with lower incomes, students, and more; and prohibit the criminalization of seeking reproductive health care. Republicans have been boycotting for over a week. HB 2002 has already passed the Oregon House. 
• The Pennsylvania House Democratic Policy Committee held a hearing on HB 2454, the Access to Contraceptives Bill.
• The Illinois House has approved several pro-sexual and reproductive health care bills including, SB1909, which prohibits anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers from using deceptive practices, and SB 1907 which now goes to the governor and expands emergency contraception vending machines and wellness kiosks on college campuses.

Defensive efforts:

• This week, the South Carolina House revived and amended S. 474, a six-week abortion ban. With the legislative session ending this week, Gov. McMaster has already announced a special session set to begin on Tuesday, during which House lawmakers have vowed to pass the bill.
• Nebraska state senators this week introduced a last-minute amendment to add a 12-week abortion ban to an existing bill banning gender-affirming care for trans youth. In order to fast-track the ban, lawmakers have ignored the legislative process, refusing to even have a committee hearing. The bill will be up for debate on Tuesday and could be with the governor by the end of next week.
• Alabama lawmakers have introduced HB 454, a bill that would allow the state to prosecute providers, helpers, and pregnant people for murder based on their providing, supporting, having, or seeking an abortion. It has been referred to the House Judiciary committee. 
• On Wednesday, in direct response to pro-abortion rights advocates efforts to enshrine abortion rights into the state constitution via a ballot initiative, the Ohio House passed SJR2, a proposed rule change to raise the vote threshold for passing such measures to 60 percent. SJR2 will head to voters in August. 
• This week, Missouri lawmakers passed a ban on gender-affirming care for minors, sending it to the governor’s desk.