‘I Did Not Sleep’: South Carolina Republican Reckons with Tragic Consequences of ‘Heartbeat Bill’ He Voted For
South Carolina State Rep. Neal Collins (R) is struggling with his past support of an anti-abortion law in his state, saying he’s now seeing the negative consequences of it.
While recently speaking with the state’s House Judiciary Committee, Collins said he hadn’t slept for a week after learning of a 19-year-old girl who was forced to carry a non-viable fetus due to the law.
Collins recalled hearing from a doctor in Anderson who cared for the teen girl after she came into the emergency room when her water broke. It was discovered that her fetus was non-viable, but they could not extract it due to the fetus still having a detectable heartbeat.
“The standard of care was to advise her that they could extract or she could go home. The attorneys told the doctors that because of the fetal heartbeat bill, because that 15 week old had a heartbeat, the doctors could not extract,” Collins said.
The Republican said he asked the doctor how long it would take for the heartbeat to disappear and they could provide no actual timeline, saying it could be minutes or days. The two options under the current law were to admit her until the heartbeat is not detected or discharge her. She was eventually discharged.
“She’s going to pass this fetus in the toilet,” an emotional Collins said. “She’s going to have to deal with that on her own.”
Making matters worse, Collins added that the doctor said there was more than a 50 percent chance the young woman would lose her uterus and a more than 10 percent chance she will “develop sepsis and die.”
“That weighs on me,” Collins said. “I voted for that bill. These are affecting people.”
The woman Collins referred to eventually returned to the hospital two weeks later to have her fetus extracted. After Collins’ remarks, he refused to vote for a near total ban on abortions that does not include exceptions for rape or incest. The only exception would be to save the life of the mother.
