#Abortion and the value of life are issues that divide America. The pro-life and pro-choice movements continue to fuel the debate of whether it is a woman’s right to choose to deliver a child and whether that life is entitled to its right to live. Because of this, legislators have been trying to solve the predicament by answering the question “at what moment does life begin?”

The recently passed Heartbeat Bill, defines the start of human life as the moment a fertilized embryo experiences its first heartbeat. The bill prohibits the abortion of pregnancies carried to this point and entitles the unborn child the human right to life. This event occurs between five and six weeks after fertilization and implantation. The bill would require physicians to check for a heartbeat after eight weeks and refuse to abort if a heartbeat is found or face monetary fines and possible jail time. Exceptions can be made if the mother is a victim of incest or rape or the child is not viable. 

The pro-choice movement, which focuses on a woman’s right to her own body, argues that pro-life bills such as these have the potential to put women in difficult situations, especially those experiencing an unwanted pregnancy due to rape, incest, and threat to the life of the mother. Pro-choice individuals argue that a woman has a right to govern their own body and legislators should not be able to force them to carry out an unwanted pregnancy. “My body, my choice” is a phrase often used in defense of this argument. Opposition to the bill argues that banning abortion earlier in a pregnancy than most people realize they are pregnant will not reduce abortions but rather reduce safe abortions.

Following the bill passing February 18, 2021, Federal Judge Mary Geiger Lewis blocked the bill by granting a preliminary junction, putting the bill on hold for a higher court appeal which could take months or years.

The question for debate, should South Carolina’s Heartbeat Bill be supported?