The following report came from Nick Reynolds, political reporter for the Post & Courier.
Sitting in the House Judiciary Committee, where lawmakers are discussing a bill that would require healthcare providers to push an unproven “abortion reversal” procedure to abortion patients.
It came up fairly quickly, if you’ll recall.
SC lawmakers advance bill pushing controversial ‘abortion reversal’ procedure
Post & Courier, Mar 10, 2022
Rep. Beth Bernstein says she is concerned with the bill and that the procedure to “reverse” an abortion, per physicians she’s spoken to, is unsafe.
Rep. John R. McCravy, the sponsor, cites a study by Dr. George Delgado stating its safe.
But Bernstein notes he is not qualified. Says that he has
- lied about his qualifications
- has a history of bizarre claims, including that “condoms are evil”
- is a family physician that specializes in “Christian” medicine, and has never worked as a licensed obstetrician.
Adds Delgado has barely published, and another study he’d published in a “fringe publication” was later retracted.
McCravy said these facts are unrelated to the bill. But his arguments in-favor of this have been based on his studies.
“We are not trained medical professionals, and we continue to debate this tight legislation,” Bernstein says. Argues that doctors already discuss the implications of abortion meds with patients.
“I would hope that conversation would happen, but it doesn’t,” McCravy said.
“I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that we are approving of disseminating information that is not medically sound,” Bernstein says.
Rep. Justin Bamberg says this has been blocked by courts in AZ, ND, OK and TN, where a Trump-appointed judge wrote in 2020 that the word “reverse” doesn’t accurately describe the research behind progesterone therapy.
“It’s important to acknowledge fact. And this bill does not acknowledge fact,” Bamberg said.
Calls this “frustrating” and “political nonsense” that has already been decided in the courts.
“We’re playing politics with people. This is real life. We shouldn’t be doing that.”
Calls the study this is based on “unproven and unethical” and would force doctors to “break their oath” in pushing it.
Says other states have held study committees on this procedure as well, and found the procedure to be unproven and high-risk to the women who underwent it.
Here’s one from Louisiana.
I’ll refrain from typing out everything that is said from now on since all of the upcoming speakers are Democrats and oppose the bill, but the general gist from reps. like Seth Rose is that the legislature is wasting money on lawsuits to defend bad bills, and are a distraction.
“The bills and legislation are going to continue to be more extreme and far reaching and, quite simply, it’s never going to end,” said Rose. “It’s a political campaign stump for some.”
“Next week, next session, it will continue to be more and more extreme.”
Rep. Cezar McKnight ran an amendment requiring the state to set up a fund that would provide care to babies born with birth defects as a result of this, after Rep. Spencer Wetmore argued the process has caused serious harm in trials.
McCravy moved to table it, and the motion to table passed 15-8.
