{"id":4883,"date":"2011-04-05T06:23:44","date_gmt":"2011-04-05T11:23:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kevinbryant.com\/?p=4883"},"modified":"2011-04-05T06:23:44","modified_gmt":"2011-04-05T11:23:44","slug":"palmetto-family-council-life-votes-in-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kevinbryant.com\/kbarchive\/palmetto-family-council-life-votes-in-house\/","title":{"rendered":"Palmetto Family Council Life Votes in House"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n
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\n<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n


\nThe\u00a0Freedom of Conscience Act and the Huh? Caucus<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Americans United for Life<\/a> analyzes state laws related to Life every year. AUL even goes so far as to\u00a0rank the states<\/a> in the strength of their laws on\u00a0abortion<\/a>, protection of the\u00a0unborn<\/a>(in contexts outside of abortion),\u00a0bioethics<\/a>, the\u00a0end-of-life<\/a>, and\u00a0health care freedom of conscience<\/a><\/span>.
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\nSouth Carolina is currently ranked\u00a019th<\/strong><\/span> of the 50 states.\u00a019th<\/span>. We can do better.<\/span><\/p>\n

But in order to be rated\u00a0among the Top Ten pro-life states in the country, we must close two serious gaps:\u00a0Born Alive<\/strong><\/span> Infant Protection<\/strong><\/span> <\/span>and\u00a0Conscience<\/strong><\/a> Protection<\/strong><\/span>. We discussed Born Alive in our last message to you.<\/p>\n

When it comes to\u00a0Conscience<\/a>, though South Carolina law is very strong on the right to object to taking part in\u00a0abortion<\/em>, there is no protection for health care professionals or institutions in\u00a0other ethically questionable areas<\/em> such as stem cell research or euthanasia.<\/p>\n

So, we were glad to see\u00a0H.3408<\/a>, the\u00a0South Carolina Healthcare Freedom of Conscience Act<\/strong><\/span><\/span>, which came up on the House floor for an extended debate last Tuesday.<\/p>\n

If you read the\u00a0online voting score sheet<\/a> on H. 3408 posted on the statehouse website, you will see that\u00a069<\/strong><\/span> <\/strong>members voted in favor of final passage of the bill,\u00a041<\/strong><\/span> <\/strong>voted against,\u00a05<\/strong><\/span><\/strong>were excused, and eight\u00a08<\/strong><\/span> <\/strong>just didn’t bother to vote.<\/p>\n

We win. Sounds good. But what does it really mean?<\/p>\n

To get a clear picture of the real position of each individual legislator on the larger issue of Life, we must consider\u00a0all<\/span> votes cast on\u00a0Born Alive <\/span><\/strong>and <\/em>Conscience <\/span><\/strong>last Tuesday. So, Palmetto Family\u00a0took all\u00a09 <\/strong><\/span>roll calls and analyzed them in a huge spreadsheet (1,107 cells for those of you who appreciate such things).<\/p>\n

When tallied, the nine roll call votes reveal\u00a0three <\/strong><\/span>distinct groups of legislators as pie charted above:<\/p>\n