Abortion will not be the main topic of discussion during the GOP’s week-long nomination process for former President Donald Trump, which will take place in Milwaukee next week as Republicans from all across the nation prepare for the RNC.
Republican leaders concurred that “The People’s vote and the States now have the authority to decide on abortion,” leaving the matter of gestational limitations up to the individual states, in a new platform made public by the party prior to the convention.
That may imply an almost complete ban on abortion in places like South Carolina, where three Republican women who opposed a six-week ban the previous year were eliminated from consideration in the Republican primary this summer.
Together with two Democratic women, the three state senators—Sandy Senn, Penry Gustafson, and Katrina Shealy—formed an alliance known as the “sister senators.”
The five, who were the only women in the state Senate, gained global fame and prizes for their successful filibuster to stop a draft of the anti-abortion legislation.
However, the Republican women’s political careers were destroyed by the action and their subsequent votes against the legislation that outlawed abortion.
Senn stated, “We’re not stupid,” to NBC News over the phone last month. As Republican women, “we certainly knew that there could be [political] fallout.”
Senn, Shealy, and Gustafson were all defeated by male Republican primary opponents when running for reelection.
This implies that, when the next term begins, there probably won’t be any Republican women in the chamber, which Sen. and Gustafson called heartbreaking.
In a different phone interview conducted last month, Gustafson stated, “There’s a bigger picture here.” “This indicates that Katrina Shealy had to work for years to become the sole female chairperson of a committee.”
“Republicans will hold a supermajority and head committees,” Gustafson continued. Thus, there aren’t any female Republicans. That implies a long absence of committee chairs. It is necessary for someone to be elected, serve, establish their qualifications, and be selected. I believe it will take at least 15 years for us to have another female committee chair.
The three men who defeated the GOP “sister senators,” Carlisle Kennedy, state Representative Matt Leber, and former Lancaster County Councilman Allen Blackmon, all identify as anti-abortion. It’s unknown how they would have voted on the law, but opponents worry that if it reached the state Senate, they may back a more stringent abortion prohibition.
Kennedy went so far as to inform the Lexington County Chronicle that Shealy’s vote against the abortion law caused them to have “a difference of opinion.”
They added that the redistricting process, which was finished in 2021 and resulted in more conservative districts for Senn and Gustafson, might have contributed to the main results.
“I knew that because I have a very, very conservative district, and with redistricting, it became more so,” Gustafson stated. “I was positive that my district had the highest chance of losing this vote at the time of the voting.”
Senn noted that a far more conservative and rural area of the state was included in the redistricting process, adding, “I would guess that these people would think differently from, say, people who live in my hometown of Dorchester, Summerville, or Charleston.”
When the next state Senate session starts in 2025, there probably won’t be many women in the chamber: state Senator Tameika Isaac Devine, a Democrat who was sworn in earlier this year after winning a special election, and state Senator Margie Bright Matthews, a Democrat who joined the “sister senators” filibuster.
Gustafson clarified, “This isn’t about gender politics. Republicans like to say, ‘Oh, that’s just gender politics.'” No, it’s not. Women make up more than half of the population of South Carolina.
Senn went on to say that she did not believe that the state’s present abortion law or any upcoming restrictions would stop women from accessing reproductive care, especially since mifepristone and other abortion-inducing medications are readily available online, sometimes from non-medical websites and sometimes imported from other countries.
According to a survey conducted earlier this year, more women—pregnant or not—are ordering abortion pills online, even from providers that accept telehealth consultations from places where the practice is less restricted.
Senn declared, “Women will do what women will do regardless of any law.”
According to a study by the pro-abortion rights think tank Guttmacher Institute, the number of abortions performed in countries where the practice is prohibited is comparable to that of countries where it is legal.
Despite their initial setbacks, Gustafson and Senn stated that they do not regret their choice to oppose South Carolina’s abortion ban, even if it was eventually passed.
Last month, female senators from opposing parties convened to see the unfolding of Shealy’s primary election outcomes. Despite receiving barely 37.5% of the vote, she was defeated.
“We all cried, but I didn’t really cry until Katrina’s primary night,” Gustafson remarked. “As I watched my sister senators arrive at the location one by one, my emotions intensified.”
However, being there together seemed like it closed the circle. It just seemed perfect, and it was. And we really do have a bond that even a year ago, I never would have guessed we would have,” she continued.
Senn and Gustafson told NBC News that the ladies intend to stay together even though some of them are leaving the chamber.
Gustafson mentioned that she has discussed preliminary plans to launch a consulting project to support future Republican women seeking to run for government in the Palmetto State with Senn and Shealy.
Gustafson continued, “But that’s just an idea right now.”