Pair of GOP-led states fail to pass abortion bans — by 1 vote

Two Republican-led state legislatures voted on bills that would restrict abortion access but Nebraska and South Carolina failed to move the legislation forward. Nebraska voted on a bill that would ban abortion around the sixth week of pregnancy but the measure fell one vote short of breaking a filibuster. In South Carolina, senators rejected a bill that would have banned nearly all abortions.

In Nebraska, it was the cosigner of the bill, Sen. Merv Riepe, R-Neb., who abstained from voting and ultimately kept the legislation from moving forward. Riepe cited concerns that women may not know they are pregnant at the six-week mark.

Riepe, a former hospital administrator, introduced an amendment Thursday, April 27, that would have extended the proposed ban to 12 weeks and add any fetal anomalies deemed incompatible with life to the bill’s list of exceptions. His Republican colleagues pushed back.

The South Carolina bill would have largely banned abortion at conception. The exceptions are for rape or incest through the first trimester, fatal fetal anomalies confirmed by two physicians and to save the patient’s life or health.

But in another close vote of 22 to 21, the bill failed in the Senate. The vote marked the third time the Republican-led chamber failed to pass an abortion ban since the overturning of Roe v. Wade nearly a year ago.

The results mean abortions remain legal in the two states until 22 weeks of pregnancy. It also means even in red states, abortion is a touchy issue some state lawmakers would rather leave alone.