Criminalizing Abortion in South Carolina

In South Carolina, Gabriela Flores is in jail for taking a medication that induced an abortion. The immigrant farm worker faces more jail time, too, if she is convicted on all charges. What did she do wrong? She took the medication on her own rather than going to a doctor she couldn't afford. Prosecutors wanted to charge her with murder and possibly apply the death penalty. For an abortion.

Michele Bollinger writes:

Flores is charged with violating a state ban on "illegal" abortions -- a law that is supposed to protect women from back-alley abortionists, not to send them to jail for having one. ... Flores' case reflects a new level of madness among the anti-abortion bigots. According to a May 1 article in The State newspaper, state officials initially tried to charge Flores with murder -- with the hope of seeking the death penalty, a source later said.

Eventually, this den of crackpots realized that a murder rap wouldn't stick -- so the charges were reduced to the illegal abortion charge.

But no one can explain why Flores spent four months in jail with no assistance. "I don't know how anyone could be forgotten like that," said Angela Hooton of the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health.

Bollinger explains that South Carolina is an example of how to make abortion "rare" — it's more difficult to get an abortion there than almost anywhere else in America. In South Carolina, 87% of all counties have no abortion provider. Married women have to show their husband's consent before getting an abortion. Anyone who wants an abortion must undergo "biased counseling and mandatory delays."

Flores was 16-weeks pregnant, too far along for anyone to provide her with an abortion in South Carolina, but even if she weren't so far along it's easy to see why she would have sought alternative means. She certainly couldn't afford to miss two weeks by going to North Carolina, much less the high monetary cost.

Bollinger argues that cases like this are a natural by-product of seeking "common ground" with those who actually want to criminalize abortion and that cases like this should be expected if we push too hard for the idea that abortion should be "rare." She's got a point.

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