California Governor Gavin Newsom excoriated a move by South Carolina legislators considering the most severe abortion penalty in America — possible execution. Retweeting an article about a proposed bill in the SC legislature, Newsom decried the paradox of pro-life advocates potentially bringing the death penalty to bear on women having abortions in the state.
Newsome tweeted: “They. Are. Not. Pro. Life.”
They. Are. Not. Pro. Life. https://t.co/pzK6xFN6vE
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) March 14, 2023
The proposal by SC Rep. Rob Harris — the South Carolina Prenatal Equal Protection Act of 2023 — reportedly has the backing of 21 South Carolina legislators. The bill would confer personhood on a zygote (a fertilized egg at the point of conception).
This stark alteration in the legal consideration of fetus viability would subject a woman having an abortion in South Carolina to a charge of homicide. Homicide in South Carolina is punishable by death penalty — with the state’s preferred method of execution being the electric chair.
Under South Carolina law, “a person convicted of a capital crime and having imposed upon him the sentence of death shall suffer the penalty by electrocution or, at the election of the convicted person, by firing squad or lethal injection.”
[Note: Chat GPT-4 says a “paradox is a statement or situation that appears self-contradictory or logically inconsistent, yet it may still be true or valid. Paradoxes often challenge conventional wisdom or common sense and can provoke critical thinking and deeper understanding of a subject.”]
