Editor's Note: This column is co-authored by Kristan Hawkins and Jason Rapert.
This really isn’t complicated: pro-life Americans believe a human being is a human being, no matter how old they are. Human Life begins at conception. Following that biological reality, legislators should have no problem supporting South Carolina’s H. 3457, the Human Life Protection Act. The bill would prohibit all abortions, except for cases of medical necessity.
Yet, something’s gone haywire among the allegedly "pro-life" GOP in South Carolina, as the life-saving legislation is trapped in the House Judiciary Committee, neglected by its Chairman, Rep. Weston Newton (R). Also puzzling, Speaker of the House Murrell Smith Jr. (R) refuses to call the bill up for a vote.
What’s the hold-up? Since Rep. Newton has twice passed this bill out of Committee in prior sessions, any new objections are manufactured. Time is running out—the session ends Thursday, May 8th—and with it the chance to save more than 3,700 preborn children per year in the Palmetto State.
This session, Students for Life Action (SFLAction) launched coordinated efforts in South Carolina to push Rep. Newton and Speaker Smith to allow for a vote on the floor. SFLAction’s efforts to get the bill moving have included organizing our South Carolina pro-life students to hit Rep. Newton and Speaker Smith with text, call, and email campaigns; door knocking in both of their districts; and organizing multiple lobbying days at the State House–including one this past Wednesday. Abby Johnson, a former Director of Planned Parenthood turned pro-life advocate, and I also sent a personal letter to Speaker Smith and Rep. Newton, urging them to allow a vote. We’ve received no reply.
Rep. Newton is feeling the heat, though. In a desperate attempt to deflect blame, he’s taken aim at us, SFLAction, claiming we’re somehow part of the “D.C. Swamp” and only showed up in South Carolina to raise money for corrupt officials. He posted these outrageous accusations on Facebook, complete with a faked photo of two random people with our logo badly photoshopped on the back of their shirts. The idea that the “Swamp” would send a bunch of pro-life students into South Carolina to raise money (how exactly, Newton doesn’t even attempt to explain) is so absurdly laughable that it needs no refutation--as many of the South Carolinians in the Facebook comments were quick to point out.
One starts to wonder just how "pro-life" Rep. Newton really is, especially when he himself has stated that he’s "proud" of his "record on insisting for exceptions: rape, incest, fatal fetal anomaly and the life of the mother"--as though a baby’s personhood was somehow dependent on the circumstances of his or her conception. If it’s wrong to kill a preborn child conceived in a consensual sexual act, then it’s wrong to kill one conceived in a nonconsensual one—because that child is a human being.
In America, we don’t determine someone’s value based on such arbitrary factors as their location or their age. So, we shouldn’t judge one person as less valuable simply because they’re located in the womb or because they’re at the very earliest stages of Life. That’s all too reminiscent of when we determined people’s value based on other arbitrary factors, like skin color or socioeconomic status.
This basic truth should be uncontroversial amongst pro-lifers. Indeed, many legislators in South Carolina, such as Rep. John McCravy, support our bill, which recognizes the humanity of the preborn, no matter the circumstances. Yet, Speaker Smith’s has turned his ire on the genuine, 100% pro-life Rep. McCravy, threatening him with removal from the GOP Caucus, running attack ads in his district, and threatening other Family Caucus Members with the same treatment if they don’t resign from the Family Caucus and speak out against pro-life students.
So, do Speaker Smith and Rep. Newton hate their fellow GOP Representatives because they didn't vote in favor of their recent corporate welfare scheme? Speaker Smith wanted to cut taxes for his big corporate friends and casinos on the backs of average South Carolinians. Many pro-life legislators opposed this RINO move. Is this Smith’s revenge? Is this why they won't let this pro-life bill come up for a vote?
Or—worse—do these two men just want more babies to die in abortions?
I don't know. Either scenario is bad. Really bad. And it’s going to cost thousands of lives, unless these two “gentlemen”—I use the term loosely—live up to their sacred duty to protect Life.
Speaker Smith and Rep. Newton’s lies are finally falling to pieces around them, leaving them exposed as the squishy, complacent, soft-on-abortion Republicans they really are.
But, as recent history has shown, Republican politicians like Rep. Newton and Speaker Smith can no longer take the pro-life vote for granted. Any candidate that calls themselves pro-life will be expected to live up to the name. Legislators who fail to fulfill the sacred obligation to protect Life aren’t going to be tolerated by voters.
Take the example of the “Sister Senators,” who filibustered and blocked this same life-saving legislation, the Human Life Protection Act, back in 2023. SFLAction refused to look the other way—when the Sister Senators’ primaries rolled around, SFLAction was ready with a campaign of 37,000 pieces of mail, nearly 130,000 texts, over 51,000 phone calls, and thousands of doors knocked to inform voters of these Republicans who had betrayed the pro-life cause.
The voters then sent a clear message: all three Sister Senators lost their seats to SFLAction-supported, 1-100% pro-life candidates.
Yes, Life is that important.
The reality of the situation is this: at least 3,700 preborn babies die in South Carolina each year from abortion. Wherever they came from, whatever the happy or tragic circumstances surrounding their entry into existence, they’re precious human beings. And right now, those lives are in the hands of Speaker Smith, Rep. Newton, and the South Carolina State House.
Speaker Smith, Rep. Newton, you’ve claimed to be pro-life. You have before you a historic piece of pro-life legislation.
The clock’s ticking.
Your move.
Kristan Hawkins is president of Students for Life of America and Students for Life Action, with more than 1,500 groups on middle and high school, college and university, medical and law school campuses in all 50 states. Follow her @KristanHawkins or subscribe to her podcast, “The Kristan Hawkins Show.”
Jason Rapert is the Founder & President of the National Association of Christian Lawmakers, Holy Ghost Ministries, the American History & Heritage Foundation, and Providence Financial Group. He continues to lead all four of these organizations with the assistance of each individual organization's board of directors. He served for 12 years in the Arkansas State Senate. www.christianlawmakers.com