The House Judiciary Committee spent more time yesterday afternoon debating an abortion waiting-period bill than a woman at a clinic in Columbia, Charleston or Greenville had to wait to abort her unborn child.

Rep. James Smith

Rep. Greg Delleney

How ironic that representatives spent an hour-and-a-half debating Rep. Greg Delleney’s bill (H. 3245) and a Planned Parenthood-backed amendment by Rep. James Smith before finally sending it unamended to the House floor.

The bill, in essence, extends the waiting period for an abortion from 1 hour to 24 hours. The sticking point for the representatives… when the 24-hour clock actually starts.

Currently, before she can have an abortion, a woman must wait one hour either (1) from the receipt of written materials at an abortion clinic or (2) from the time she’s had an ultrasound. When it was passed in the ’90s, the waiting period stopped the practice of abortion-on-demand in South Carolina.

James Smith’s amendment slightly altered the language of the bill, but had it passed, it would have dramatically changed the the law’s effect. Planned Parenthood, through Smith, was trying to give abortionists the leeway to basically perform abortion-on-demand by allowing women to say they had either received written materials in the mail… or that they had viewed abortion information on the DHEC website… 24 hours before coming in.

That would have all but negated the “reflection period” bill supporters are pushing to give women time to think about the life of their unborn child before making this life-changing decision.

Last year, lawmakers tried to require that doctors perform an ultrasound prior to an abortion. That effort was watered down, requiring doctors to only offer the ultrasound, but fears of malpractice and the requirement that doctors determine the gestational age of the baby in the mother’s womb have made pre-abortion ultrasounds routine in South Carolina. 

Rep. Wendy Nanney

So, as it stands now, the clock starts when the ultrasound is performed. As a father who has seen plenty of ultrasounds in my time, I have to agree with the statement that Greenville Rep. Wendy Nanney made during the debate… the statement that should be the rallying cry of this bill…

“Seeing the ultrasound changes you. It makes you think differently.”

H. 3245 now heads to the House for debate… which could become rather contentious… if yesterday’s hearing was any sign.

If you want to stand in support of this bill, please visit our friends at Palmetto Family and sign their online petition in support of this bill.

It didn’t take long. Day 3 of the Obama Administration, and the US Government is once again funding international groups that promote or perform abortions.

Despite vocal support for the unborn, just one day after the 36th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, a single executive order overturning The Mexico City policy opened the flood gates for hundreds of millions of tax dollars to flow to groups like Planned Parenthood across the globe.

Mind you…while the economic foundations of this country are crumbling, banks are losing value right and left, and government bailouts flow out of DC by the trillions… what’s a few hundred million?

It’s everything.

It’s life.

Take a look at this video… and tell us what you think about the life of one child.

Meanwhile, in SC, there is an opportunity for us to stand up for life. Palmetto Family Council is gathering signatures on this online petition to strengthen abortion laws in SC, increasing our state’s waiting period from one hour to 24 hours.

Contact information for the President is…

President Obama
White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave
Washington, DC  20500
Phone: 202-456-1414 or 202-456-1111
Fax: 202-456-2461
E-Mail: comments@whitehouse.gov

While so many of us may have enjoyed the lazy days of summer, it has been anything but an idle time for Planned Parenthood here in South Carolina. The group is fast expanding their footprint across the state with a brand new office opening in Charleston later this year.

Planned Parenthood Health Systems, Inc., now a four-state (SC, NC, VA & WV) powerhouse for “reproductive health services”, is forging new inroads in the low country and could soon be pulling some much stronger weight in Palmetto State politics.

These lines from their 2007 annual report make it clear…

In 2007, we recruited thousands of new advocates. We mobilized hundreds of volunteer lobbyists to meet with their state legislators and members of Congress. We encouraged dozens of supporters to submit letters to the editor and conduct voter registration drives. We need to do more.

In fact, the group is currently looking to hire a new fund raiser to “direct a development program in Coastal South Carolina and possibly state-wide”.

What does this means for conservatives? Unless we band together and strengthen our social and moral stance on issues, our once-strong voice will soon become overwhelmed by a vocal minority that is bound and determined to drive a new agenda into our communities. Just last year, they claim to have defeated 17 pro-life measures before our legislature and fought against the ultrasound bill that required women contemplating an abortion to view an ultrasound of their fetus before the procedure.

While they’re widely known and associated in conservative circles with abortion procedures, 65% of Planned Parenthood’s medical efforts are directed toward pregnancy testing, condom and contraception distribution, STD/STI testing, and an expanding research component that includes some level of new contraceptive medical testing.

Based on past history in other states, expect Planned Parenthood to push for changes in SC’s Comprehensive Health Education Act which outlines sex education guidelines for our schools. Currently, that law

• promotes abstaining from sex outside marriage
• addresses dealing with peer pressure
• limits explanations of contraception methods to the context of future family planning

We should expect that they’ll working with local school boards’ sex education committees to thwart these stated guidelines in every way possible. To see how Planned Parenthood is promoting their education agenda in other states, just take a look at www.TakeCareDownThere.org. [WARNING: Content on this site is graphic in nature.]

We’ll be working to keep you informed on these and other topics as this blog expands. If you have ideas or comments, please direct them to SCConservative@sc.rr.com.