Strict abortion bans fail in Nebraska and South Carolina

An effort to advance a bill that would ban abortion around the sixth week of pregnancy fell one vote short of breaking a filibuster in the Nebraska Legislature on Thursday. And in South Carolina, senators rejected a bill that would have banned nearly all abortions in a conservative state that has increasingly served patients across a region where Republican officials have otherwise curtailed access.

A 22-21 vote Thursday in South Carolina marks the third time a near-total abortion ban has failed in the Republican-led chamber since the U.S. Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade last summer. Six Republicans helped block motions to end debate and defeated any chance the bill passes this year. The chamber's five women filibustered the proposal in speeches highlighting the Senate's male majority that they criticized for pushing debates on abortion over other pressing issues. 

The South Carolina bill would have banned abortion at conception, with exceptions for rape or incest through the first trimester, fatal fetal anomalies confirmed by two physicians, and to save the patient's life or health. Abortion remains legal through 22 weeks in South Carolina — a status that has drawn patients throughout the increasingly restrictive Southeast.