South Carolina state senators proposed legislation that would make it unlawful to assist or conspire with someone in obtaining an abortion.
The state lawmakers’ move to introduce the bill came shortly after the Supreme Court repealed the federal protections for abortion nationwide, according to a report by The Washington Post.
Provisions in the bill would forbid giving advice on how to get an abortion over the phone or the internet as well as making it illegal to host a website with similar information.
Verbiage from the bill also indicates that it would be illegal to engage in “offering or providing abortion doula services, knowing that the services will be used, or are reasonably likely to be used for an abortion.”
Additionally, if passed the legislation plans to make it an illegal act to provide a “referral to an abortion provider, knowing that the referral will result, or is reasonably likely to result, in an abortion.”
The same standard would apply to anyone “providing a referral to an abortion provider and receiving monetary remuneration, or other compensation, from an abortion provider for the referral.”
According to The Washington Post, some legal scholars believe this proposal could restrict communication and speech, which could present fierce legal challenges in the future.
The publication also reports that the South Carolina bill was created by using a model put together by the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC).
NRLC announced on June 15 that it had produced a proposed “post-Roe Model Abortion law for the states to adopt” even before Roe v. Wade was overturned on June 24 in anticipation of the pro-life victory.
Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life, said of the model legislation, “For decades, National Right to Life and its state affiliates have led the effort to pass life-affirming laws at the state level that protect unborn children and their mothers – efforts that have drastically reduced the number of abortions and brought us to this moment in our nation’s history.”
“With this model law, we a (sic) laying out a roadmap for the right-to-life movement so that, in a post-Roe society, we can protect many mothers and their children from the tragedy of abortion,” Tobias went on.
The group said their model law is an attempt to protect unborn life, and prevent abortion except in the cases where it is necessary to protect the life of the mother.