US media criticises a state's abortion law

Six members of the South Carolina statehouse withdrew their sponsorship from a bill this week after media coverage portaryed it as wanting to execute women who have abortions. The "South Carolina Prenatal Equal Protection Act of 2023" introduced several amendments to the state criminal code, which would define a fertilized egg as a person and prosecute abortion as murder. The bill attracted the attention of major corporate outlets on Monday, resulting in a flurry of near-identical stories condemning it. Rolling Stone claimed that 21 South Carolina Republicans "propose [the] death penalty" for abortions.
Congresswoman Nancy Mace, a South Carolina Republican, and a blogger for MSNBC's 'ReidOut' show called the bill an example of "right-wing depravity" and pointed out that it does not include exceptions for rape or incest. The bill has been a hot-button issue in US politics for decades, with Republicans condemning it as murder and sinful and Democrats defending it as a healthcare issue. In the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling, the US Supreme Court declared abortion part of the constitutionally protected right to privacy, but that precedent was overturned in 2022. Current South Carolina law holds that abortion is legal up to 21 weeks and six days of pregnancy, and the state Supreme Court struck down a 2021 law that sought to outlaw abortions after six weeks. South Carolina's last execution was in 2011 and the state has adopted the electric chair as the preferred method of capital punishment, but the courts are currently debating whether that would violate human rights.