Nearing the end of their respective legislative sessions, Republican state senators in South Carolina and Nebraska on Thursday helped to torpedo pro-life bills that would have significantly restricted abortion in those conservative states.
Nebraska’s bill, which would have banned abortions once fetal cardiac activity is detected around six weeks of pregnancy, died in a 32-15 filibuster-ending cloture vote, the Omaha World-Herald reported.
Veteran GOP state Senator Merv Riepe denied the 33rd vote needed for the bill to pass, abstaining over fears that it would be interpreted as a total ban on the procedure.
“At the end of the day, I need to look back and be able to say to myself, ‘Did you do the best?’” he told the Flatwater Free Press. “No group came to me, asking me to do this. This is of my own beliefs, my own commitments.”
Riepe also told the publication that he rejects the idea of “legislating morality.”
In response to the 80-year-old lawmaker’s withdrawal from the vote, Republican Governor Jim Pillen, who ran on the pro-life platform, urged Riepe to honor what he said was his history of defending the unborn.
“I am profoundly disappointed in the cloture vote today,” Pillen said in a statement. “It is unacceptable for senators to be present not voting on such a momentous vote. I call on Senator Merv Riepe to make a motion to reconsider and stand by the commitments to life he has made in the past.”
Riepe, whose district has elected both Republicans and Democrats, introduced an amendment that would limit abortions up to 12 weeks, striking a balance between Nebraska’s current 20-week ban and the state Senate’s proposed six-week ban. But the amendment did not make it to a vote before debate began Thursday.
In 2019, Riepe received a 100 percent rating from Nebraska Right to Life, according to Vote Smart. But on Thursday he said that “we must embrace the future of reproductive rights.”
In South Carolina, a bill that would have prohibited most abortions flopped in the chamber on a 22 to 21 vote. At four different points, the state Senate could not garner the 26 votes to end a filibuster, after three days of debate, the Post and Courier reported.
“The Senate does not have the votes to pass a ban before six weeks,” Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey said after the vote.
The measure, which originated in the state House, included exceptions for rape and incest through 12 weeks of gestation as well as for fatal fetal anomalies or when abortion was necessary to save the life of the pregnant woman.
While the near-total abortion ban failed in the state, a separate six-week limitation, already approved by the Senate, could be enacted if the House passes it by end of session on May 11.
“I’m disappointed but not surprised,” Massey said. “We gave it our best shot. It’s up to the House now. The House has two weeks to save as many lives as possible.”
The odds of it succeeding there are low though, Republican House Majority Leader Davey Hiott said, according to the Post and Courier.
“I don’t think we have the votes,” Hiott said after the Senate adjourned. “We have six days left. That kind of puts us in a bind. Time is not on our side.”
Republican state representative John McCravy, who introduced the House bill, said he believes there is “no path forward at all on that bill,” speaking of the Senate’s six-week version.
Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, South Carolina has become a hotbed for abortion tourism, with nearly half of the 2,927 abortions performed in the state in the first three months of 2023 coming from another state, according to provisional data from the state Department of Health & Environmental Control.