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A BILL
TO AMEND CHAPTER 1, TITLE 1 OF THE 1976 CODE, RELATING TO THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE GOVERNMENT GENERALLY, BY ADDING ARTICLE 5, TO ENACT THE PERSONHOOD ACT OF SOUTH CAROLINA, TO ESTABLISH THAT THE RIGHT TO LIFE FOR EACH BORN AND PREBORN HUMAN BEING VESTS AT FERTILIZATION AND THAT THE RIGHTS OF DUE PROCESS AND EQUAL PROTECTION, GUARANTEED BY ARTICLE I, SECTION 3 OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THIS STATE, VEST AT FERTILIZATION FOR EACH BORN AND PREBORN HUMAN BEING.
Whereas, the General Assembly, under Article III, Section 1A of the Constitution of the State of South Carolina, 1895, is empowered to assemble to make new laws, as the common good may require; and
Whereas, Article I, Section 3 of the Constitution of the State of South Carolina, 1895, guarantees that no person may be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law or be denied the equal protection of the laws; and
Whereas, the General Assembly, in the exercise of its constitutional powers and in carrying out its duties and responsibilities under the law, finds it necessary and proper to ensure that the rights of its citizens extend to each newly born and preborn human being. Now, therefore,
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:
SECTION 1. Chapter 1, Title 1 of the 1976 Code is amended by adding:
Article 5
Personhood
Section 1-1-310. This article may be cited as the 'Personhood Act of South Carolina.'
Section 1-1-320. The General Assembly finds as follows regarding the sanctity of life:
(A) The General Assembly acknowledges that the July 4, 1776 Declaration of Independence is one of the Organic Laws of the United States of America found in the United States Code.
(B) The General Assembly acknowledges that all persons are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights.
(C) The General Assembly acknowledges that personhood is God-given, as all men are created in the image of God.
(D) The General Assembly finds that the Preamble to the Constitution of the State of South Carolina contains the sovereign peoples' acknowledgment of God as the source of constitutional liberty, saying: 'We the people of the State of South Carolina, in Convention assembled, grateful to God for our liberties, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the preservation and perpetuation of the same.'
(E) The General Assembly finds that a human being is a person at fertilization.
Section 1-1-330. (A) The right to life for each born and preborn human being vests at fertilization.
(B) The rights guaranteed by Article I, Section 3 of the Constitution of this State, that no person shall be deprived of life without due process of law nor denied the equal protection of the laws, vest at fertilization for each born and preborn human being.
Section 1-1-340. This article is enacted pursuant to the power reserved to this State under the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution."
SECTION 2. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.
We started by sending a letter to Governor Haley back in August of 2015. No response.
We then modified the letter in March of 2017 and had more than 300 Pastors sign.
April 28, 2017.
Letter hand delivered to Governor McMaster asking him to defund Planned Parenthood.
May 3, 2017
Mr. Peters,
I dropped off a please Defund Planned Parenthood letter to the Governor Wednesday. I left a partial list of Pastors. Here is the rest of the list I have of pastors who want to see our tax money stop flowing to Planned Parenthood.
May 3 to May 31, 2017
Hundreds of people calling Hal Peters.
June 1, 2017
I speak to Hal Peters and he gives me the name of Jay Wolfe. Hal Peters asks me to tell everyone to stop calling. Calling politicians and their aids works!!
June 1, 2017
I speak to Jay, and let him know there are hundreds of pastors unified to stop tax payer funding of abortion.
June 5, 2017
The Governor says he will look into defunding Planned Parenthood.
June 7, 2017
I spoke on the phone with Jay. He told me in our conversation that SC Attorney General Alan Wilson did not see a way to spend money on fighting a law suit that we would probably lose. I ask Jay for the Legal reasons we cannot end tax payer funding to PPH.
June 7 2017
Mark,
I do not have additional information regarding the DHEC appointee. As of now a decision has not been made, and I do not know of any timetable for that decision. The candidate will have to confirmed by the Senate. I do however have some of the legal material you were asking about regarding Medicaid funding for abortion providers. The material is attached and there is also a link to the article below. The attachment titled Michigan likely provides the simplest legal reasoning for why the state cannot cut off funding to these providers. (This email came with 3 court cases)
August 1, 2017
With regard to defunding Planned Parenthood, things continue to stand as we last left them in our previous emails. The Governor has given directive to the DHEC Board of Directors to continue to ensure that no federal grant money goes to abortion providers. However, as we have previously spoken, federal law requires that Medicaid must fund abortions that fall within the scope of the Hyde amendment. The court cases I previously sent you show that other states attempting to prevent these expenditures have only gotten themselves caught up in lengthy and expensive legal battles, and South Carolina would be no different. We feel confident that we have taken all possible action, within the limitations imposed by federal law, to limit and prohibit funding to abortion providers.
August 1, 2017
I looked over the information you gave me. I have always wondered why politicians are worried about doing the right things if there is a cost? I have the same opinion of the information you sent to me the last time I looked at it, I don't think it is relevant. Cases going back a few decades are under different circumstances today.
There are State Funds that the Governor can send to other providers. The amount of state funding to Planned Parenthood in Columbia is about $85,000, we can end that whole amount. Please tell me why the money we give them for other services cannot be denied? There are many states that have taken this step, Florida has cut over $2 million to its Planned Parenthood clinics with out any lawsuits.
“Governors and other officials generally say their state has ‘defunded’ Planned Parenthood by taking one or more of these steps:"
1) Ceased funding the organization through state family planning programs.
2) Diverted federal Title X family planning grants to other health clinics.
3) Terminated a Medicaid contract with the organization or barred it from participating in the Medicaid program. (This is a big one and we should do it.)
Why can't we do this same thing?
Then look at this:
President Trump quietly signed legislation Thursday that rolls back an Obama-era rule protecting certain federal funds for Planned Parenthood and other organizations that provide legal abortions.
That regulation, implemented in the waning days of the Obama administration, required that states pass along family-planning grants — regardless of whether the groups they're passing them along to offer abortion services as well. The rule was intended to prevent states from withholding these grants from any organization "for reasons other than its ability to provide Title X services."
Now that the rule has been repealed, states can effectively block Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers from funds associated with the Title X Family Planning program, which was established in 1970 to subsidize organizations that offer services related to contraception, pregnancy care, fertility and cancer screenings primarily for low-income people.
The law signed 3/30/2017 by the president began in the House and narrowly passed the Senate, only after Vice President Pence stepped in to cast the tie-breaking vote late last month.
"It was my honor to break tie vote in Senate overturning last minute Obama rule & restoring state control over Title X family planning funds." - Vice President Pence tweet March 30, 2017
Now that we have some up to date information when will Governor McMaster defund Planned Parenthood? I mention the campaign because I am going to pose this same question to those running, and then report back to the 600 pastors I work with this information.
Also, What happens to the DHEC board? There are 6 board members missing, how are they holding meetings? Can you explain why this has not been handled?
August 5, 2017
I am sorry I was unable to call you back. I plan on calling this week coming up. I am having to start 3 new campaigns at work. I will have more time in the near future, these babies are just to important.
I need the Governor to get serious about defunding Planned Parenthood. I also need to make sure that South Carolina Tax Payers do not pay for another abortion. Look what I found.
In William v. Zbaraz, the United States Supreme Court upheld that states could constitutionally make their own versions of the Hyde Amendment, and states/the federal government have no statutory or constitutional obligation to fund medically necessary abortions. - ["Four Things You Need To Know About the Hyde Amendment & Federally Funded Abortion | American Center for Law and Justice". American Center for Law and Justice. 2016-08-05. Retrieved 2017-04-13.]
I need the Governor to declare what he wants to do. Did you know in June 2016 primary more than 80% voted to have an amendment to the South Carolina constitution declaring that a fetus is a person at the moment of conception?
One more thing that is very important to know. These cases make one thing abundantly clear: taxpayer funding of abortion by abandoning the Hyde Amendment is a significant shift and leap from Roe that the government is not obligated to take. Roe did not establish a positive right to an abortion and therefore the government has no obligation to finance that abortion for any woman choosing to have one at any point in her pregnancy.
I need the Governor to make it clear that the State of South Carolina will not use tax payer money to pay for a single abortion. If we could also get him to make this statement about Roe that would be very helpful for the Personhood legislation coming up in 2018.
August 10 to August 20, 2017:
Spoke via phone to Jay asking him to update the progress. There was no progress.
August 23, 2017:
I get a message from Darren that a young lady in Columbis is thikning about aborting Twins. My thought was that if we defund Planned Parenthood in Columbia she would have another hurdle and keep babies. I call and terxt Jat asking him to move on this issue. I tell him that we have 300 pastors who care and this lady having PPH in Columbia is why we need to deprive it of tax payer money!! Jay tell me to be paitinet they have something in the works.
August 25, 2017:
Jay sends an email and they have defunded PPH, and the other 2 clinics in South Carolina. Jay sends me this email with the Governors remarks on it, and the Executive Order!!
Pastors for Life plays a primary role in the Governor's decision to Defund Planned Parenthood and the other 2 abortion Clinics!!!
