Ron DeSantis that requires a pregnant person to show proof of rape or incest to qualify for abortion exceptions up until 15 weeks.īased on her own experience, Mace said thinks the “restrictive strings” attached to the exceptions are unrealistic. It’s why she’s currently working on legislation to address the massive backlog of untested rape kits across the United States, and why she’s been critical of a recent abortion ban signed by Florida Gov. Since then, she said, her own trauma “has made me a different type of lawmaker because it really informs everything that I do.” She told Yahoo News that she hadn’t planned to share her story, but she felt compelled to speak out on behalf of victims of rape to ensure that the bill, which banned abortion after six weeks, would include exceptions for victims of rape and incest. Mace first revealed her traumatic experience to the public in 2019, during a debate over South Carolina’s fetal heartbeat bill, when she was serving in the state Legislature.

The issue of abortion access is personal for Mace, who was raped when she was 16. “If we just bury our heads in the sand and ignore the issue, we're going to lose and we're going to lose big.” It’s this kind of position that, Mace argues, Republicans would be wise to adopt if they want to win in 2024. Penry Gustafson, a Republican, said that while she is pro-life, she opposed the bill because it left “no room for empathy, reality or graciousness.” The only five women in the state Senate - three Republicans, one Democrat and one Independent - joined together to lead a multi-day filibuster against the bill. Wade that a near-total abortion ban has failed to pass in the state’s GOP-led chamber. It was the third time since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Then last month, Judge Janet Protasiewicz, who campaigned on her support for abortion access, won a hotly contested race for a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court by 11%, giving Democrats a majority on the bench in the key swing state and showing, again, that the issue of abortion is top of mind for many voters.Īnd just last week, South Carolina’s state Senate voted 22-21 to reject a near-total abortion ban. First, there was the wave of successful ballot measures on abortion rights that passed during the 2022 midterm elections, even in traditionally conservative states.

Fruit party big win