Senator Cash introduces measure to revise abortion definitions, cites 2023 "heartbeat" law and calls for legal protection from fertilization

Senator Cash, the senator from Anderson, introduced a bill described in the reading clerks summary as amending code provisions related to definitions for "abortifacient" and "contraception," revising the definition of contraceptive, and deleting definitions for "fetal fatal fetal anomaly" and "fetal heartbeat." The reading clerk recorded the bill as referred to the Medical Affairs Committee.

During introductory remarks, Senator Cash referenced prior abortion-related legislation and the U.S. Supreme Court's shift in 2022. "When Roe v Wade fell in 2022, the responsibility, the ability to write the code for which children can be killed or can't be killed after the time that a human life has began fell into our lap," he said. He referenced the "heartbeat" law enacted in February 2023 and said the number of abortions declined following that statute. "Up until that point in August of 2023, the numbers were actually close to a thousand unborn babies a month dying from abortion in South Carolina," he said. He later stated that in "the last 4 months of 2023, the number of unborn babies dying from abortion, declined to under 200 a month." He also said the Legislature is the proper body to set state policy on the issue.

Senator Cash described the new measure as "what I call the onboard child protection act" and said he hoped the bill would receive "serious and due consideration" from both chambers. The clerk's record shows the bill was placed with the Medical Affairs Committee; no committee hearing or floor vote on the bill was recorded in this session.

The introductory remarks are part of the bill-introduction portion of the Senate calendar. The transcript does not include statistical sources for the numerical figures Senator Cash cited, and he acknowledged that he did not have 2024 figures during his remarks.