COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A near-total abortion ban was defeated in South Carolina with the help of the only three Republican women in the Senate, but they are losing their presidential candidates after Tuesday’s primaries.
The voters handed over the senators – and the winners of the John F Kennedy Profile in Courage Award for people who risk their careers for the greater good – two losses and a runoff after joining Democratic women in rejecting the measure saying a pregnant woman should not lose control of her body once an egg is released has been fertilized.
But the state had only men in the Senate in 2012 and could end up without a single Republican woman in the House in 2025. There are only two Democratic women among the 46 members.
“You can’t tell me this isn’t a slap in the face to women,” Senator said. Katrina Shealey which is preparing for a second round. “Republican women are losing like this on one issue, when we fought so hard for other things.”
Going against the tide
Voters on Tuesday bucked the trend of doubts about stricter abortion laws.
Statewide polls have shown that a near-total ban does not have widespread support. But turnout was low and the races took place in Republican-drawn districts where experts say voters tend to be more fervent on issues like abortion.
The Republican women had forced a compromise, and the state eventually instituted a ban once cardiac activity was detected, usually about six weeks after conception.
“It’s easier to fight mini-battles than to fight an entire state war,” says Dave Wilson, a conservative political consultant who has worked with anti-abortion groups. “In the mini-battles, voters can turn around and say they don’t like the position you’ve taken and the way you’ve handled it. It doesn’t take many of them.”
The races
Abortion wasn’t the only reason Penry Gustafson lost, said her lone opponent, Allen Blackman, who believes life begins at conception. Gustafson had less than 20% of the vote in a newly redrawn district that no longer included her base, and where voters complained she wasn’t solving their problems.
Sen. Sandy Senn’s loss by just 31 votes to state Rep. Matt Leber is close enough for a recount, but that rarely changes a race by more than a few votes in South Carolina. The race was fraught with accusations. She posted signs with Leber’s mugshot, which he said was from inflated allegations that never led to convictions.
Leber’s attacks misinterpreted Senn’s record and manipulated photos to make her look like the Joker, a villain from DC Comics.
The redistribution may also have hurt Senn; her redrawn Charleston district includes more conservatives.
Gustafson thanked her supporters in a statement Wednesday and vowed to continue serving the community. Senn won’t talk about the race until the recount is completed later this week, she said in an email. Neither woman reported abortion.
Leber did not respond to messages.
Shealy’s drain
Shealy was the only Republican woman to survive the night, but she received only 40% of the vote. On June 25, she will face attorney and political newcomer Carlisle Kennedy.
There were billboards all over her Lexington County district proclaiming that Shealy was not “pro-life,” leading to the charge to change the state from Democratic to Republican control over the past fifty years. Kennedy did not respond to messages on Wednesday.
Shealy’s strategy for the primaries was to stay above the fray. She will likely change tactics for the runoff, even if it alienates people who feel uncomfortable when a woman raises her voice or takes a stand, she said Wednesday.
The South Carolina Senate had been all-male for four years when Shealy was first elected in 2012 and rarely had more than one woman in the chamber. If she loses, there’s a good chance the Senate will have just two women in 2025, both Democrats.
That means the perspective of women, who make up 55% of registered voters in South Carolina, could be lost and issues she champions, such as free lunch for all schoolchildren, could be ignored, she said.
“I didn’t break that ceiling for abortion rights — I broke it because we needed someone to take care of children and families and veterans and old people,” Shealy said. “All these people that no one took care of. I came in there and gave them a voice.”
