Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe versus Wade last
June, many Republican led states have moved to ban
abortions completely. What had been a constitutional
right for nearly 50 years has started to disappear in
some places almost overnight. 13 states enacted full
abortion bans all of them with no exceptions. Even for
rape or incest, five states have bans ranging from 6 to
20 weeks. In one of those Florida, Governor Ron
desantis signed a new ban after six weeks, but it has
not taken effect yet. It's pending a review by the
Florida State Supreme Court. And then there are the
states which have tried to ban abortions but have been
blocked temporarily by various courts. And that doesn't
include South Carolina where the State Supreme Court
ruled in January, a law banning abortions after six
weeks of pregnancy was unconstitutional. Lawmakers
There have been working on new legislation. And despite
the Republican super majority in South Carolina, the
new legislation has been held up by five women in the
State Senate. They are the only women in the State
Senate and they're known as the sister senators, one
Democrat, one independent and three Republicans and two
of them joined us now, Republican State Senators,
Katrina, she and Sandy Sen. Thank you so much for
joining us. And I just want to give our viewers a heads
up. If the vote bell rings, the senators will have t
leave immediately. So I'm going to get through as many
questions as I can with you both. You know, you both
have taken a stand on this issue in your legislature.
What is the, why behind your unwavering stance if we
could start with Senator Sy Well, first of all, thank
you for having us and we are uh proud sister senators
who are happy to take the stand for the, the women in
South Carolina and actually for the women all over the
country who, who want to tell you that it's, you know,
women don't want the legislature in the doctor's off
with us. It's, it's our decision to decide whether or
not we want to have, you know, an abortion or not, but
women don't use abortion as birth control. I think when
women go out on Friday night, they don't say I'm gonna
get pregnant and want to have an abortion tomorrow.
That's not what we want to do. Women who have an
abortion, do it under great thought. They, you know,
they struggle with those uh decisions and I think that,
you know, the, the men who are making these decisions
for us because in South Carolina, the majority of the
legislature is men in the, in the Senate, there's 41
men and five women in the house. Uh, there's 100 and 24
legislators and I think right now there's 16 women. So,
and, and part of those agree with the men. So, you know,
it's a struggle in the State of South Carolina to make
these decisions. I just think that we should be able to
make those choices for self, with our doctor, our
spouse, whoever is making those decisions with us, it's
not the legislator, legislature's decision. Ok. And
and before I get your thoughts, Senator Si, just want
to follow up really quickly, Senator Sy because I know
that you voted yes on that six week abortion ban in the
past that is now, you know, been held up by the court
and all that. Uh So when you're describing, you kno
your thoughts on this whole situation and yet that's
your, your voting history. How do you square those two
Well, let me tell you this, the women in the senate,
the Republican women introduced a 12 week uh first
trimester bill and we introduce that at the first part
of this year and we were told that the women didn't
need to introduce that legislation that we needed to
let a man introduce the legislation or it wouldn't even
get a hearing. So the only option we had was to go
along with the men's bill, which was six weeks. Now, do
I think 22 weeks is too long to have an abortion. Yes,
I do. So, to get a six week deal with the exceptio
rape, incest, fatal fetal anomaly. Excuse me. And life
of the mother was the best option we had at the time.
And we gave that to the House of Representatives in
South Carolina and the House of Representatives
continues to ignore what the Senate is trying to offer
them and they won't. No exceptions. No. Uh They want an
abor no abortions after conception which nobody can
really tell you what conception is, but that's what
they want. So that's why I voted that way. But what we
really wanted was a first trimester bill and that's
what the Senate Republican women offered to the Senate
and we couldn't even get a hearing on that. Wow. Uh
Senator S, you are one of three Republican women uh
among your, your sister, senators. What kind of
reaction have you received from your colleagues in the
public We were seeing images also of the infant size
spines from an anti abortion group. Students for li
that were sent to you. I mean, what is going on Well,
actually, I will tell you that that in my area, I, I'm
in the Charleston area and I would say we're a little
bit more progressive there. Um So I have not gotten
very much pushback at all. I am Catholic though. So
I've gotten pushback from membe of my church. Um But
other than that, I really have not gotten terrible
feedback. Um, and most of my feedback has been very
positive because it is a balancing test and, and I
agree with Senator Sheeley that 22 weeks is too long.
Um, at that point, some mothers could feel the baby
moving at that point. But I also don't want to be a
judge for, for other women. I thought six weeks was too
short because I know that uh a lot of women do not know
that they're pregnant by six weeks. So I felt like the
balance was in the middle. And for me, that was the
easiest spot to be, is, is 12 weeks. Now, would I
negotiate a little off of that Maybe just to get this
thing behind us But that's not what we're seeing in the
house, the house for them. It's an all or nothing
proposition. Uh, they are not going to take it up.
They're gonna take, actually, t are going to take it
up, but there's already 600 amendments on the bill. Um
If they pass it over to us as they have amended it
again, they were not supposed to change so much as the
semicolon is what we told them and they added 14 pages
to the bill. So we're gonna be right back where we were
round four in seven months and unless one of us dies or
gets sick or something, the outcome is gonna be
predictable. Re elect us. Well, that, that comes the
following year, we have been threatened. Um I have been
threatened by my leadership that they were gonna be
running somebody against me in 2024. Really You really
And that's a, no, no, they're not supposed to do that
But he said it to a group of reporters. So let me k
that both of you, I've been getting, I've been sending
contributions. So that's ok. So, I mean, yeah, your
constituents, I mean, you're describing, you know, your
personal beliefs for the both of you really uh are
different from what you're proposing. But it sounds
like you're getting feedback from your constituents
supporters who are saying this is what we want is, is
that part of the narrative here as far as what you all
are trying to present, representing your people. Well,
I'm getting positive feedback a and I can tell you
nobody is going to agree on this. We couldn't get five
Supreme Court judges to agree. They all wrote separate
opinions. So you're not going to get 100 and 80
lawmakers to agree. The best yo can do is try to get
somewhere where there's some sort of consensus. But
with the house being that we don't want any abortions
and we want no exceptions and stuff like that. We're
just not gonna, we're not gonna get anywhere. And so
the only thing we can do is be a thorn and we've right.
So far, you've been a pretty big thorn. I think as long
as we can keep them from passing legislation,
gonna keep it at 22 weeks, which is not an ideal
situation. An ideal situation would be a first
trimester, uh, ban, but I don't think we'll get it
there until the house decides that they can't push us
any further. I think that the, the women of the Senate
have to stick together. We still need the uh three men,
three men that are sticking with us. And there are
three Republican legislators th are sticking with us
and, and we don't need to not acknowledge them because
if they don't stick with us, you know, we could lose
very quickly. And you know, Senator Davis and Senator
Henry and Cinda Rankin are sticking with us and when
they stop, we could very well lose. And, and so we need
to, you know, give them credit, but, you know, the
women need to stick together. We're group of women and
we need to stick together and, and show our unity that
we stand up for women's rights. But we always, we also
stand up for, you know, health care for women and, and
what's right for us. You know, nobody goes to the
doctor with men every day. We shouldn't go to the
doctor with women and tell them what to do to that
point. How much of the fight in South Carolina is abou
abortion and how much of it is about control control.
I'm just telling you plain and simple. Uh, we had one
lawmaker who, who's one of the most, um, I guess the
biggest foe over on the Senate side and he actually
proclaims that the only proper birth control is a
condom. All right. And that's what the basis of this,
what the house just added on to the bill. It sets up
what's known as personhood and personhood. I am telling
you is it, we will really have no rights, but just
think of that 11 issue if they get their way and a
condom is the only proper method of birth control
because it prevents the sperm from ever like touching
the and the others, you know, work in different ways.
Then that means only men will control birth control as
well. It is not just about abortion, this is going t
go further and further and further if we let it happen
and if we, one of us loses election, you know, th
what they're hoping and they, they will be running
somebody against us. They, they far outnumber us, but
we're hoping that we're going to get more women to run
as well. And that's really what we need and that's the
message we've been trying to get out. Yeah, Senator
Sheila. Your thoughts. We need more women. Hm. Ok. T
plain and simple. I love how you put it that way and I
want to just really quickly before we go here. What's
going to happen when that vote Bell rings today because
we know that that's coming up. Can you just explain
that to our viewers No, the abortion is not coming up
today. It's over in the house. We have lots of other,
um, things we're working on. This is supposed to be
week for us, meaning this is supposed to be the end of
the legislature and we only, you know, we're supposed
to be part time and we get paid a whopping $10,400 a
year. And here we are getting called back and they're
hoping for attrition. So we're, we're gonna have to
come in when we're not supposed to be in session. A lot
of people plan vacations, kids, getting out school,
things of that nature and they're counting on one of us
not coming back and that, that's how they're gonna try
and win this year. I don't think they're gonna win i
that way. Um, they're gonna hav to win it by taking us
out next year if, if they ever win this issue, but we
will be back and hopefully when we come back the next
year, there will be more of us and, and we will, you
know, we're gonna prevail eventually, but I don't think
that the five of us that we currently have will let
that happen while we're still here. And hopefully when
we do come back in 2020 will be 2025. By the time next,
after the next election, there will be more women in
the legislature because last ye they took out a lot
of women in the house. They didn't take any in the, you
know, because it wasn't an election year in the Senate,
but they took out quite a few women in the house last
time. So hopefully when it's election year, next time,
we'll get more women in the house, we'll get more women
in the Senate or just moderate men. Republican.
like crazy far, left, far, right in South Carolina. We
have a lot of far. Right. And I'm talking really f
from, ok. So looking for, you know, more diversity
representation of thought here, South Carolina State
Senators, Katrina Sheeley and Sandy. So thank you so
much for your time. The, the Senator sisters. We, we
appreciate you giving insight on really. What's, what's
making headlines right now Thank you.