Category Archives: Establish Justice

“Without Virtue There Can Be No Liberty” – Founder* Benjamin Rush:

Published by:

Revised and Edited October 26, 2022

Christians for Life and Liberty

“Without Virtue There Can Be No Liberty” – Founder* Benjamin Rush:
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Founder* Benjamin Rush:

“… without virtue there can be no liberty”

*A signer of the Declaration of Independence
https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/159839-the-only-foundation-for-a-useful-education-in-a-republic
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To be clear, those who advocate and insist on the “legalization” [sic] of child-murder in the womb in any measure, undermine the morals and virtue, and ultimately therefore the liberty of our State.   Steve Lefemine

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QUOTES ON LIBERTY AND VIRTUE

Compiled and Edited by
J. David Gowdy, President
The Washington, Jefferson & Madison Institute


Excerpts:

“Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim tribute to patriotism who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness — these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. . . . reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principles.”

George Washington

 

“Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become more corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.”

Benjamin Franklin

 

“Laws without morals are in vain.”

Benjamin Franklin (Motto of the University of Pennsylvania)

 

“. . . Virtue, morality, and religion. This is the armor, my friend, and this alone that renders us invincible. These are the tactics we should study. If we lose these, we are conquered, fallen indeed . . . so long as our manners and principles remain sound, there is no danger.”

Patrick Henry

 

“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

John Adams

 

“Public virtue cannot exist in a nation without private, and public virtue is the only foundation of republics.”

John Adams

 

“Statesmen, my dear Sir, may plan and speculate for liberty, but it is religion and morality alone, which can establish the principles upon which freedom can securely stand. The only foundation of a free Constitution is pure virtue, and if this cannot be inspired into our People in a greater Measure than they have it now, they may change their rulers and the forms of government, but they will not obtain a lasting liberty.”

John Adams

 

“[N]either the wisest constitution nor the wisest laws will secure the liberty and happiness of a people whose manners are universally corrupt. He therefore is the truest friend of the liberty of his country who tries most to promote its virtue, and who, so far as his power and influence extend, will not suffer a man to be chosen onto any office of power and trust who is not a wise and virtuous man.”

Samuel Adams

 

“[M]en will be free no longer then while they remain virtuous.”

Samuel Adams

 

“No people will tamely surrender their Liberties, nor can any be easily subdued, when knowledge is diffused and Virtue is preserved. On the Contrary, when People are universally ignorant, and debauched in their Manners, they will sink under their own weight without the Aid of foreign Invaders.”

Samuel Adams

 

“A general dissolution of the principles and manners will more surely overthrow the liberties of America than the whole force of the common enemy…. While the people are virtuous they cannot be subdued; but once they lose their virtue, they will be ready to surrender their liberties to the first external or internal invader…. If virtue and knowledge are diffused among the people, they will never be enslaved. This will be their great security.”

Samuel Adams

 

“No people can be great who have ceased to be virtuous.”

Samuel Johnson

 

“In selecting men for office, let principle be your guide. … It is alleged by men of loose principles, or defective views of the subject, that religion and morality are not necessary or important qualifications for political stations. But the scriptures teach a different doctrine. They direct that rulers should be men who rule in the fear of God, men of truth, hating covetousness. It is to the neglect of this rule that we must ascribe the multiplied frauds, breaches of trust, speculations and embezzlements of public property which astonish even ourselves; which tarnish the character of our country and which disgrace our government. When a citizen gives his vote to a man of known immorality, he abuses his civic responsibility; he not only sacrifices his own responsibility; he sacrifices not only his own interest, but that of his neighbor; he betrays the interest of his country.”

Noah Webster

 

“…if the citizens neglect their Duty and place unprincipled men in office, the government will soon be corrupted; laws will be made, not for the public good so much as for selfish or local purposes; corrupt or incompetent men will be appointed to execute the Laws; the public revenues will be squandered on unworthy men; and the rights of the citizen will be violated or disregarded.”

Noah Webster

 

“… the manners of the people in general are of the utmost moment to the stability of any civil society. When the body of a people are altogether corrupt in their manners, the government is ripe for dissolution.”

John Witherspoon

 

“So true is this, that civil liberty cannot be long preserved without virtue.”

John Witherspoon

 

“… but a republic once equally poised, must either preserve its virtue or lose its liberty, and by some tumultuous revolution, either return to its first principles, or assume a more unhappy form.”

John Witherspoon

 

“The only foundation for… a republic is to be laid in Religion. Without this there can be no virtue, and without virtue there can be no liberty, and liberty is the object and life of all republican governments.”

Benjamin Rush

 

“Lastly, our ancestors established their system of government on morality and religious sentiment. Moral habits, they believed, cannot safely be on any other foundation than religious principle, nor any government be secure which is not supported by moral habits.”

Daniel Webster

 

“[I]f we and our posterity reject religious instruction and authority, violate the rules of eternal justice, trifle with the injunctions of morality, and recklessly destroy the political constitution which holds us together, no man can tell how sudden a catastrophe may overwhelm us, that shall bury all our glory in profound obscurity.”

Daniel Webster

 

“Liberty cannot be established without morality, nor morality without faith.”

Horace Greely

 

“Among a people generally corrupt liberty cannot long exist.”

Edmund Burke

 

“Men are qualified for civil liberty in exact proportion to their disposition to put moral chains upon their appetites; in proportion as their love of justice is above their rapacity; in proportion as their soundness and sobriety of understanding is above their vanity and presumption; in proportion as they are more disposed to listen to the counsel of the wise and good, in preference to the flattery of knaves. Society cannot exist unless a controlling power upon will and appetite be placed somewhere, and the less of it there is within, the more there must be without. It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things, that men of intemperate minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters.”

Edmund Burke

 

“[T]he very best forms of government are vain without public virtue . . . .”

William A. Cocke

 

“When was public virtue to be found when private was not?”

William Cowper

 

“The laws by which the Divine Ruler of the universe has decreed an indissoluble connection between public happiness and private virtue, whatever apparent exceptions may delude our short-sighted judgments, never fail to vindicate their supremacy and immutability.”

William Cabell Rives

 

“Unless virtue guide us our choice must be wrong.”

William Penn

 

“If men be good, government cannot be bad.”

William Penn

 

“Republics are created by the virtue, public spirit, and intelligence of the citizens. They fall, when the wise are banished from the public councils, because they dare to be honest, and the profligate are rewarded, because they flatter the people, in order to betray them.”

Joseph Story

 

“The life of the nation is secure only while the nation is honest, truthful and virtuous.”

Frederick Douglas

 

“[R]eligion, morality and knowledge, being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall be forever encouraged.”

Northwest Ordinance of 1787

 

“I consider the domestic virtue of the Americans as the principle source of all their other qualities. It acts as a promoter of industry, as a stimulus to enterprise and as the most powerful restraint of public vice. . . . No government could be established on the same principle as that of the United States with a different code of morals.”

Francis Grund

 

“The American Constitution is remarkable for its simplicity; but it can only suffice a people habitually correct in their actions, and would be utterly inadequate to the wants of a different nation. Change the domestic habits of the Americans, their religious devotion, and their high respect for morality, and it will not be necessary to change a single letter in the Constitution in order to vary the whole form of their government.”

Francis Grund

 

“History fails to record a single precedent in which nations subject to moral decay have not passed into political and economic decline. There has been either a spiritual awakening to overcome the moral lapse, or a progressive deterioration leading to ultimate national disaster.”

Douglas MacArthur

 

“[Liberty] considers religion as the safeguard of morality, and morality as the best security of law and the surest pledge of the duration of freedom.”

Alexis de Tocqueville

 

“I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her comodious harbors and her ample rivers, and it was not there; in her fertile fields and boundless prairies; and it was not there; in her rich mines and her vast commerce, and it was not there. Not until I visited the churches of America and heard her pulpits aflame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.”

[ Attributed to Alexis de Tocqueville, but not verified ]

 

“To educate a man in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society.”

Theodore Roosevelt

 

“No government at any level, or at any price, can afford, on the crime side, the police necessary to assure our safety unless the overwhelming majority of us are guided by an inner, personal code of morality. And you will not get that inner, personal code of morality unless children are brought up in a family — a family that gives them the affection they seek, that makes them feel they belong, that guides them to the future, and that will build continuity in future generations. . . . the greatest inequality today is not inequality of wealth or income. It is the inequality between the child brought up in a loving, supportive family and one who has been denied that birthright.”

Lady Margaret Thatcher

 

“The ultimate success of this government and the stability of its institutions, its progress in all that can make a nation honored, depend upon its adherence to the principles of truth and righteousness.”

John Lord

 

“Righteousness exalteth a nation.”

Proverbs 14:34 [ KJV ]

 

http://www.liberty1.org/virtue.htm
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To be clear, those who advocate and insist on the “legalization” [sic] of child-murder in the womb in any measure, undermine the morals and virtue, and ultimately therefore the liberty of our State.   Steve Lefemine

https://abortionno.org/abortion-photos/

10 Week Abortion

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God’s righteous judgment is upon such a people which is so wicked as to commit child-sacrifice and “shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters”. At God’s Hand, such a people is turned over to tyranny, such that they that hate them rule over them:

37 Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils, 2 Kgs. 17.17
38 and shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters,
whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan: and the land was polluted with blood. Num. 35.33
39 Thus were they defiled with their own works, and went a whoring with their own inventions.
40 Therefore was the wrath of the LORD kindled against his people, insomuch that he abhorred his own inheritance.
41 And he gave them into the hand of the heathen; and they that hated them ruled over them.
42 Their enemies also oppressed them, and they were brought into subjection under their hand.
43 Many times did he deliver them; but they provoked him with their counsel, and were brought low for their iniquity.
44 Nevertheless he regarded their affliction, when he heard their cry:

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God says,
“Thou shalt not kill (murder).”
Exodus 20:13, KJV

 

Christians for Life and Liberty
Columbia, SC

Re: SC Supreme Court Hearing on Heartbeat Law – Oct 19, 2022; Heartbeat Bill vs. Personhood: Planned Parenthood attorney points out SB1 (2021 Heartbeat Bill) “does not treat a six-week embryo as another person.”

Published by:

Columbia, SC
Oct 19, 2022 / Revised Oct 20, 2022 / Revised Oct 21, 2022

Re: SC Supreme Court Hearing on Heartbeat Law – Oct 19, 2022; Heartbeat Bill vs. Personhood: Planned Parenthood attorney points out SB1 (2021 Heartbeat Bill) “does not treat a six-week embryo as another person.”

Planned Parenthood attorney points out SB1 (2021 Heartbeat Bill) “does not treat a six-week embryo as another person. If it did of course, you wouldn’t have a rape exception. After birth a woman cannot kill her child because she had been raped. So SB1 itself distinguishes between a six-week embryo and a person”, near the end of the SC Supreme Court Hearing on whether the incremental six-week Heartbeat Law violates the SC Constitution Privacy Right in Article I, Section 10.  

( Begin at 2:46:00 in video of Oct 19, 2022 SC Supreme Court Hearing – https://youtu.be/Jv-6aqO2SnY )

Even the proponents of “abortion” understand if preborn human beings are recognized as legal “persons”, they cannot be killed !  The right to life of “persons” is constitutionally protected.

KEY LEGAL POINT: PERSONHOOD AND THE SC CONSTITUTION RIGHT TO LIFE IN ARTICLE I, SECTION 3. TRUMPS PRIVACY.
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‘South Carolina Supreme Court takes up state’s abortion ban’
ABC News
Oct 19, 2022
https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/south-carolina-supreme-court-takes-states-abortion-ban-91733940
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Christians for Personhood:

The SC State Constitution states in Article I, Section 3. “nor shall any person be deprived of life, … without due process of law, nor shall any person be denied the equal protection of the laws.”

Regardless of what the SC Supreme Court decides in the Heartbeat Law case, but ESPECIALLY if these justices opine that child-murder is somehow included in the State Constitution Privacy Right, if the SC State Legislature will recognize statutorily the PERSONHOOD of preborn human beings beginning at fertilization, without exception, then the right to life of the preborn will be protected constitutionally by Article I, Section 3. of the SC State Constitution.

Personhood and the Constitutionally-protected Right to Life trumps Privacy.
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ROE v. WADE Opinion, January 22, 1973: “If … personhood is established, the [pro-“abortion”] case, of course, collapses, …” ‘
January 5, 2022
http://christiansforpersonhood.com/index.php/2022/01/05/roe-v-wade-opinion-january-22-1973-if-personhood-is-established-the-pro-abortion-case-of-course-collapses
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God says,
“Thou shalt not kill (murder).”
Exodus 20:13, KJV

ChristiansforPersonhood.com
Columbia, SC

 

SC Senate in Effect Refuses to Even Shut Down Any “Abortion” Centers in South Carolina, by a vote of 17 Y to 26 N (3 Not Voting)

Published by:

Columbia, SC
Oct 18, 2022 / Revised Oct 19, 2022 / Revised Oct 21, 2022

SC Senate in Effect Refuses to Even Shut Down Any “Abortion” Centers in South Carolina, by a vote of 17 Y to 26 N (3 Not Voting)
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Note: Neither the SC House nor the SC Senate versions of H5399 establish legal recognition of Personhood for preborn children at fertilization, and therefore neither version provides for equal protection of the laws, and therefore neither version establishes Justice. The just course of action for the SC House and SC Senate to take is to pass the Personhood Act of SC (H5401 / S1335), not H5399.

On Tuesday, October 18 the SC Senate had the opportunity to either Accept the SC House version of H5399 or to Insist on the Senate’s version.

By a vote of 17 Y to 26 N, the SC Senate refused to “Recede” from its watered-down, revised six-week Heartbeat Bill version of H5399. If the Senate had receded from it’s own H5399 version, that in effect would have meant the House version passes, and would have been sent to SC Governor.

The SC House version would have banned approx. 98% of surgical and RU486 “abortions” in SC and so would likely have completely stopped surgical and RU486 “abortions” at the two Planned Parenthood “abortion” centers in South Carolina (Columbia and Charleston) with part-time abortionists, and would have stopped most elective “abortions”-on-demand at Buffkin and Campbell’s privately-owned Greenville “abortion” center .

The Senate six-week Heartbeat Bill version would stop about 52% of surgical and RU486 “abortions” in SC.

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VOTING NO TO THE SENATE RECEDING FROM ITS VERSION (IN EFFECT VOTING AGAINST THE HOUSE VERSION) WERE THESE ELEVEN (11) “ABORTION”-PERPETUATING “REPUBLICAN” SENATORS:

Sean Bennett (DORCHESTER)
Chip Campsen (CHARLESTON)
Ronnie Cromer (NEWBERRY)
Tom Davis (BEAUFORT)
Penry Gustafson (KERSHAW)
Greg Hembree (HORRY)
Mike Johnson (YORK)
Shane Massey (EDGEFIELD)
Sandy Senn (CHARLESTON)
Katrina Shealy (LEXINGTON)
Tom Young (AIKEN)
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Not Voting – Stephen Goldfinch
(GEORGETOWN) – Leave

Present but Not Voting – Luke Rankin (HORRY)
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SC Senate Journal
Oct 18, 2022
www.scstatehouse.gov/sess124_2021-2022/sj22/20221018.htm

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Neither the SC House nor the SC Senate versions of H5399 establish Justice. Without the legal recognition of Personhood for preborn children at fertilization, neither version provides for equal protection of the laws, and are therefore unjust pieces of legislation. The just course of action for the SC House and SC Senate to take is to pass the Personhood Act of SC (H5401 / S1335), not H5399.

 

God says,
“THOU SHALT NOT KILL (MURDER).”
Exodus 20:13, KJV

ChristiansforPersonhood.com

“PRO-LIFE” [sic] THEATER IN SC: “Republican” Leaders and Media Fail to State Publicly the SAME NUMBER OF SENATE VOTES CAST SEPT 8 FOR H5399 CLOTURE (24) IS ALL THAT IS NEEDED FOR SENATE TO APPROVE HOUSE VERSION IN SIMPLE MAJORITY VOTE ON OCT 18 (Although House Version is Also Unjust)

Published by:

Edited and Revised Oct 18, 2022 / Corrected Oct 21, 2022

“PRO-LIFE” [sic] THEATER IN SC: “Republican” Leaders and Media Fail to State Publicly the SAME NUMBER OF SENATE VOTES CAST SEPT 8 FOR H5399 CLOTURE (24) IS ALL THAT IS NEEDED FOR SENATE TO APPROVE HOUSE VERSION IN SIMPLE MAJORITY VOTE ON OCT 18 (Although House Version is Also Unjust)

10/21/22 Correction: Added the words (Although House Version is Also Unjust)

Note: Neither the SC House nor the SC Senate versions of H5399 establish legal recognition of personhood for preborn children at fertilization, and therefore neither version provides for equal protection of the laws, and therefore neither version establishes Justice. The just course of action for the SC House and SC Senate to take is to pass the Personhood Act of SC (H5401 / S1335), not H5399.
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The State [Columbia, SC]
‘Gov. McMaster says agreement on tighter abortion restrictions in SC “might take some time” ‘
https://www.thestate.com/news/politics-government/article267302977.html
UPDATED OCTOBER 16, 2022

On September 8, 2022, the Senate Majority Leader Senator Shane Massey (EDGEFIELD) proposed a version of H5399 which was substantively very similar to the SC House version, with the primary difference being an additional “exception” to banning the murder of children in the womb. This H5399 version would have banned approximately 97% (using State of Florida 2020 statistics) of surgical and RU486 “abortions”. An attempt to Table this version failed on a 20 Y to 24 N vote.  Since the Tabling motion failed, pro-“abortion” Senator Tom Davis (BEAUFORT) began to filibuster Senator Massey’s proposal.

After only about 20 minutes of Senator Davis’ “filibuster”, Senator Massey called for a Cloture vote to stop the threatened filibuster. The SC Senate came within two votes of doing so. The Cloture vote was 24 Y to 20 N to end the filibuster, but under Senate Rules, 26 votes were needed. There are 30 “Republicans” in the SC Senate. These five pro-“abortion” “Republicans” voted against Cloture on the H5399 version which would have banned 97% of surgical and RU486 “abortions”: Senators Tom Davis (BEAUFORT), Penry Gustafson (KERSHAW), Greg Hembree (HORRY), Sandy Senn (CHARLESTON), and Katrina Shealy (LEXINGTON). The sixth “Republican” who failed to vote for cloture was Senator Luke Rankin (HORRY) who departed (fled?) the Senate chamber about 25 minutes before the cloture vote on “Leave” *** (!?).

The Senate then passed its watered-down, revised six-week Heartbeat Bill version of H5399, which would ban approximately 52% (using 2021 SC DHEC statistics) of surgical and RU486 “abortions” in South Carolina.

*** SC Senate Journal – September 8, 2022
https://scstatehouse.gov/sess124_2021-2022/sj22/20220908.htm
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On Tuesday, September 27, the SC House, by a vote of 95 to 11, non-concurred with the SC Senate’s watered-down version of H5399, which the Senate had amended on September 8 into a revised six-week Heartbeat Bill:

‘SC House Non-Concurs with SC Senate’s watered-down, revised six-week Heartbeat Bill version of H5399 – September 27, 2022; Bill H5399 now goes back to the SC Senate; SC Senate returns for Special Session October 18, 2022’
http://christiansforpersonhood.com/index.php/2022/10/03/sc-house-non-concurs-with-sc-senates-watered-down-revised-six-week-heartbeat-bill-version-of-h5399-september-27-2022-bill-h5399-now-goes-back-to-the-sc-senate-sc-senate-returns-for-special-ses/

The Bill H5399 now goes back to the SC Senate. The SC Senate has been called back to return for a Special Session on October 18, 2022. The SC Senate then must first decide whether to “Insist” on its version of H5399, in which case the Bill would be given to a six-man Conference Committee ( three Representatives, three Senators ) to attempt to work out a compromise which both the House and the Senate can accept; or, alternatively, on October 18, the SC Senate could decide, to not “Insist” on its version of H5399, but to “Recede” from its version, which in effect, allows the House version of H5399 to pass, and to be sent to SC Governor Henry McMaster. The House version of H5399 would ban approximately 98% (using State of Florida 2020 statistics) of surgical and RU486 “abortions”.

THIS IS WHAT YOU ARE NOT HEARING STATED PUBLICLY BY EITHER THE SENATE “REPUBLICAN” MAJORITY LEADER SHANE MASSEY (EDGEFIELD), NOR FROM THE SC GOVERNOR HENRY McMASTER, NOR FROM THE SC LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR PAM EVETTE, NOR FROM THE SC SENATE PRESIDENT THOMAS ALEXANDER (OCONEE), NOR FROM THE SC HOUSE SPEAKER MURRELL SMITH (SUMTER), NOR REPORTED WITHIN THE ARTICLE FROM THE STATE (ABOVE):

It is important to understand that at this point procedurally on October 18, A SIMPLE MAJORITY OF THE SC SENATE WILL DECIDE WHETHER TO “INSIST” UPON OR NOT TO “INSIST” UPON (TO “RECEDE” FROM) THE SENATE AMENDMENT TO H5399 MADE ON SEPTEMBER 8. There will be a Motion on the SC Senate floor by Republican Majority Leader Shane Massey (Edgefield) either to “Insist” or to “Recede”, and a vote will be taken, without debate (which means no potential filibuster). A simple majority vote determines the outcome.
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‘Gov. McMaster says agreement on tighter abortion restrictions in SC “might take some time” ‘
https://www.thestate.com/news/politics-government/article267302977.html
UPDATED OCTOBER 16, 2022
Excerpt:

‘And in an emailed legislative update sent Friday (10/14) by Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey, the Edgefield Republican and self-described “pro-life” [sic – supports “exceptions”] senator further cleared up the bill’s chances of passing.’

‘Massey, who supports an abortion ban but ultimately voted for the Senate version of the bill last month after Republicans failed to find enough support for a near-total ban, said the House version “likely endangers” the state’s current abortion restrictions and he therefore “cannot support that.” ‘
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As for Senator Massey’s reported criticism that “the House version ‘likely endangers’ the state’s current abortion restrictions”, that could be quickly fixed by separate legislation if there was the will to do so in the SC House and SC Senate, by repealing Section 44-41-20 of the 1976 Code and amending three other sections affected by that repeal (as is included in the version of H5399 passed by the Senate on September 8). Senator Massey’s excuse for not supporting the House version on October 18 is a smokescreen. The failure so far of the SC Legislature to fix what the SC State Supreme Court identified as a problem two months ago in the very first paragraph of its August 17, 2022 Order could be promptly remedied by passing separate, stand-alone legislation with the cooperation of the SC House and SC Senate.

South Carolina Judicial Branch
The Supreme Court of South Carolina
Order 2022-08-17-01
https://www.sccourts.org/courtOrders/displayOrder.cfm?orderNo=2022-08-17-01

In 1973, the United States Supreme Court recognized in the Constitution a woman’s right to an abortion as a matter of privacy. See Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113, 153-54 (1973), overruled by Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Org., 142 S. Ct. 2228 (2022). The South Carolina legislature responded in 1974 by essentially codifying the Roe framework. See Act No. 1215, 1974 S.C. Acts 2837 (codified as amended in scattered sections of S.C. Code Ann. §§ 44-41-10 to -80) (2018)).1  In 2021, the Fetal Heartbeat and Protection from Abortion Act (the Act) was enacted.  See S.C. Code Ann. §§ 44-41-610 to -740 (Supp. 2021).  Section 44 41 710 of the Act provides that its enactment “must not be construed to repeal, by implication or otherwise, Section 44-41-20 [(the codification of Roe)] or any otherwise applicable provision of South Carolina law regulating or restricting abortion.”  It necessarily follows that the codification of Roe in section 44-41-20 remains part of the public policy of this state, notwithstanding the recent Act.  This legislative history, combined with the result in Dobbs, brings us to the current dispute in the Court’s original jurisdiction.” [ Emphasis added ]
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Note: This problem highlights the continued inclusion of the Roe trimester framework in the SC Code of Laws [Section 44-41-20], and is yet another example of the bad fruit of incremental “abortion” regulation laws which have PERPETUATED “abortion” in South Carolina for over 25 years.
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Neither the SC House nor the SC Senate versions of H5399 establish Justice. Without the legal recognition of personhood for preborn children at fertilization, neither version provides for equal protection of the laws, and are therefore unjust pieces of legislation. The just course of action for the SC House and SC Senate to take is to pass the Personhood Act of SC (H5401 / S1335), not H5399.

 

God says,

“Thou shalt not kill (murder).”

Exodus 20:13, KJV

 

“Abortion” is Murder. [ https://abortionno.org/abortion-photos/ ]

 

Jesus Christ is Lord,

Steve Lefemine
Christians for Personhood

SC House Non-Concurs with SC Senate’s watered-down, revised six-week Heartbeat Bill version of H5399 – September 27, 2022; Bill H5399 now goes back to the SC Senate; SC Senate returns for Special Session October 18, 2022

Published by:

Revised and Edited October 4, 2022


https://www.lifecyclebooks.com/usa/product/bookmark-6-week-unborn-child-pack-of-100/

Columbia, SC

SC House Non-Concurs with SC Senate’s watered-down,
revised six-week Heartbeat Bill version of H5399 – September 27, 2022;
Bill H5399 now goes back to the SC Senate;
SC Senate returns for Special Session October 18, 2022
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BACKGROUND

On Wednesday, August 31, the SC House passed (67 Y – 35 N; 3rd reading) its version of H5399 “South Carolina Human Life Protection Act” [sic] (see features of Bill below), and the Bill was sent to the SC Senate further debate.

On Thursday, September 8, the SC Senate passed (27 Y – 16 N; 3rd reading) its watered-down, revised six-week Heartbeat Bill version of H5399, and the Bill was sent back to the House to either: 1) Concur and send to the Governor; or 2) Non-Concur and send back to the Senate for either acceptance of the House version, or if not, then to send the Bill to a Conference Committee to try to work out a compromise; or 3) Amend and send back to the Senate for further debate.

Note: Neither the SC House (H5399) nor the SC Senate (H5399) passed statutory “personhood” (H5401/S1335) language in their respective original Bills.
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CURRENT STATUS

On Tuesday, September 27, the SC House, by a vote of 95 to 11, non-concurred with the SC Senate’s watered-down version of H5399, which the Senate had amended on September 8 into a revised six-week Heartbeat Bill.

The Bill H5399 now goes back to the SC Senate. The SC Senate has been called back to return for a Special Session on October 18, 2022. The SC Senate then must first decide whether to “Insist” on its version of H5399, in which case the Bill would be given to a six-man
Conference Committee ( three Representatives, three Senators ) to attempt to work out a compromise which both the House and the Senate can accept; or, alternatively, on October 18, the SC Senate could decide, to not “Insist” on its version of H5399, but to “Recede” from its version, which in effect, allows the House version of H5399 to pass, and to be sent to SC Governor Henry McMaster.

It is important to understand that at this point procedurally on October 18, A SIMPLE MAJORITY OF THE SC SENATE WILL DECIDE WHETHER TO “INSIST” UPON OR NOT TO “INSIST” UPON (TO “RECEDE” FROM) THE SENATE AMENDMENT TO H5399 MADE ON SEPTEMBER 8. There will be a Motion on the SC Senate floor by Republican Majority Leader Shane Massey (Edgefield) either to “Insist” or to “Recede”, and a vote will be taken, without debate (which means no potential filibuster). A simple majority vote determines the outcome.

Back on September 8, when Senator Massey made his cloture Motion at 5:18 pm, to stop a threatened filibuster, the cloture vote was 24Y – 20N **, just two votes short of the required 26 votes for cloture. [ This threatened filibuster was against a version of H5399 which would have banned committing an “abortion” on “a woman known to be pregnant”, but with all the exceptions of so-called life/serious health of the mother, rape/incest, and fatal fetal “anomaly” [sic]. Similar to the SC House version (which did not have a fatal fetal “anomaly” [sic] exception), this SC Senate version, which was not adopted because of the threatened filibuster and failed cloture vote, would have banned approximately 97% (using State of Florida 2020 statistics) of surgical and RU486 “abortions”. It was after the failure of this cloture vote that the Senate Bill was then amended to become the Senate’s final watered-down, revised six-week Heartbeat Bill version of H5399. ]

** SC Senate Journal – September 8, 2022
https://scstatehouse.gov/sess124_2021-2022/sj22/20220908.htm

[ Note: The five pro-“abortion” “Republicans” who voted against cloture on the H5399 version which would have banned 97% of surgical and RU486 “abortions” were: Senators Tom Davis (BEAUFORT), Penry Gustafson (KERSHAW), Greg Hembree (HORRY), Sandy Senn (CHARLESTON), and Katrina Shealy (LEXINGTON). The sixth “Republican” who failed to vote for cloture was Senator Luke Rankin (HORRY) who departed (fled?) the Senate chamber about 25 minutes before the cloture vote on “Leave” *** (!?). ]

*** SC Senate Journal – September 8, 2022
https://scstatehouse.gov/sess124_2021-2022/sj22/20220908.htm

However, in the 46-member Senate (30 R, 16 D), 24 votes is a simple majority.

Therefore, when the SC Senate returns for the Special Session on October 18, THE SAME 24 SC SENATORS WHO VOTED FOR H5399 CLOTURE ON SEPTEMBER 8, WOULD BE SUFFICIENT TO PREVAIL ON A VOTE TO “RECEDE”, AND ALLOW THE SC HOUSE VERSION OF H5399 TO PASS.
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All that said, the JUST action (Micah 6:8, Amos 5:15, Proverbs 21:3, KJV) for the SC Legislature to take has not been to pass the unjust SC Senate version of H5399, which would ban approximately 52% of the surgical and RU486 child-murders by “abortion” in South Carolina; nor to pass the unjust SC House version of H5399, which would ban approximately 98% of the surgical and RU486 child-murders by “abortion” in South Carolina; but to pass Personhood Bills H5401/S1335 to ESTABLISH JUSTICE and ultimately END AND ABOLISH ALL CHILD-MURDER BY “ABORTION” IN SOUTH CAROLINA. The SC House had the option of amending H5399 with the Personhood Bills H5401/S1335 language on September 27; however the SC House voted only to non-concur with the SC Senate’s watered-down, revised six-week Heartbeat Bill version of H5399.
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The SC GOP Platform is a PERSONHOOD Platform:

‘The South Carolina Republican Party Platform’
https://sc.gop/assets/uploads/2021/12/SCGOP-Platform.pdf
Excerpt:

The Right to Life

“We believe the Fourteenth Amendment’s protection applies to unborn children.
Unborn children should be classified as legal persons not as legal property.”
[ Emphasis added ]
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The Personhood Act of SC H5401/S1335 recognizes the Creator God-given, inherent, unalienable right to life of every human being as a natural person beginning at fertilization, in SC law, with no exceptions, because God says, “Thou shalt not kill (murder). Exodus 20:13, KJV.

Black’s Law Dictionary (2009): Person = “A Human Being”
person. A human being. – Also termed natural person.

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SC HOUSE VERSION OF H5399

The SC House version of H5399 “South Carolina Human Life Protection Act” [sic] passed August 30, 2022 (2nd reading) has these features:

1) Bans “abortion” beginning at point of “clinically diagnosable pregnancy” [ i.e., not at conception ] with these “exceptions“:
a) So-called life/serious health of the mother  [ See DublinDeclaration.com ]
b) Rape/incest

2) Describes ‘Unborn human being’ or ‘unborn child’ or ‘preborn child’ or ‘preborn human being’ or ‘fetus’ with the Creator and Creation-denying Darwinian Evolutionary terminology “organism of the species homo sapiens”  [ See “Homo sapiens” ]

3) Restricts practice associated with in vitro fertilization of “selective reduction” (destroying “excess” embryos implanted in woman’s uterus); does not ban “pre-implantation genetic screening” (eugenics); nor indefinite cryo-freezing of embryos; nor disposal or unwanted frozen embryos; nor donation of frozen embryos for medical “research” (destruction).

4) Does not ban certain “birth control” methods which are capable of functioning not only as contraceptives, but alternatively as abortifacients. Such “birth control” methods are generally, incompletely and inaccurately only called “contraceptives”, when in fact these drugs and devices are capable of functioning either as contraceptives or as abortifacients. Such “birth control” is capable of causing the early chemical “abortion” of human lives by disrupting implantation of these human beings in the uterus at 6 – 10 days after fertilization. Human life begins at fertilization (conception), not implantation.


5) Does not statutorily recognize the Creator God-given personhood of every human being beginning at fertilization, with no exceptions, and therefore does not provide due process, nor equal protection of the laws, and therefore does not establish justice.

6) Would ban approximately 98% (using State of Florida 2020 statistics) of surgical and RU486 “abortions” in South Carolina. This would likely bring an end to all surgical and RU486 “abortions” at the two Planned Parenthood “abortion” centers in Columbia and Charleston, and would bring an end to at least 98% of the surgical and RU486 “abortions” at the Greenville Women’s “Clinic” [sic].
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SC SENATE VERSION OF H5399

The SC Senate watered-down six-week Heartbeat Bill version of H5399 “… TO PROHIBIT ABORTIONS IN THE STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA ” [sic] passed September 8, 2022 (3rd reading) has these features:

1) Repeals the “Roe vs. Wade” framework in “SECTION 44-41-20. Legal Abortions.” that currently exists in the SC Code of Laws, Title 44, Chapter 41: “Section 44-41-20 of the 1976 Code is repealed.”

2) Bans committing “an abortion on a pregnant woman” carrying a “human fetus” “whose fetal heartbeat has been detected …” [ i.e., protection beginning at approximately six-weeks after conception ], and with these “exceptions”:
a) So-called life/serious health of the mother  [ See DublinDeclaration.com ]
b) Rape/incest
c) Fatal fetal “anomaly” [sic]

3) Codifies State funding of “abortions” for so-called life/serious health of the mother, rape, and incest cases in the State Health Insurance Plan.

4) No State funds “to purchase fetal tissue obtained from an abortion or fetal remains,…”

5) No State funds for Planned Parenthood for “abortions”.

6) Does not restrict practice associated with in vitro fertilization of “selective reduction” (destroying “excess” embryos implanted in woman’s uterus); does not ban “pre-implantation genetic screening” (eugenics); nor indefinite cryo-freezing of embryos; nor disposal or unwanted frozen embryos; nor donation of frozen embryos for medical “research” (destruction).

7) Does not ban certain “birth control” methods which are capable of functioning not only as contraceptives, but alternatively as abortifacients. Such “birth control” methods are generally, incompletely and inaccurately only called “contraceptives”, when in fact these drugs and devices are capable of functioning either as contraceptives or as abortifacients. Such “birth control” is capable of causing the early chemical “abortion” of human lives by disrupting implantation of these human beings in the uterus at 6 – 10 days after fertilization. Human life begins at fertilization (conception), not implantation.


8) Does not statutorily recognize the Creator God-given personhood of every human being beginning at fertilization, with no exceptions, and therefore does not provide due process, nor equal protection of the laws, and therefore does not establish justice.

9) Would ban surgical and RU486 “abortions” in South Carolina beginning at detection of a fetal heartbeat at approximately six-weeks. SC DHEC reported there were 6,279 “abortions” committed in South Carolina in 2021. Of these 3,272 or approximately 52% were committed at greater than six weeks post-fertilization age. So an estimated 48% (approx. 3,000) of the “abortions” committed in South Carolina would continue to be perpetrated under this SC Senate version of H5399.

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‘Open Letter to SC Senate Members: PERSONHOOD ACT OF SOUTH CAROLINA S1335′
September 1, 2022

‘Open Letter to SC House Members: PERSONHOOD: ACT OF SOUTH CAROLINA H5401′
August 29, 2022/Corrected and Revised Aug 30, 2022

Prepared Written Testimony of Steve Lefemine, exec. dir., Christians for Personhood,
for SC Senate Medical Affairs Committee – August 17, 2022

Prepared Written Testimony of Steve Lefemine, exec. dir., Christians for Personhood,
for SC House of Representatives Ad Hoc Committee – July 7, 2022

Re: South Carolina – ENDING/ABOLISHING CHILD-MURDER (HOMICIDE) BY “ABORTION”
July 10, 2022

 

God says,
“Thou shalt not kill (murder).”
Exodus 20:13, KJV

 

ESTABLISH JUSTICE NOW !

END / ABOLISH Child-Murder by “Abortion” NOW !

PASS PERSONHOOD NOW !

 

“Personhood Act of South Carolina”
S1335
H5401
(trigger law component no longer necessary since Roe overturned now 101 days ago June 24, 2022)
(scstatehouse.gov)

 

Steve Lefemine
Christian pro-life, pro-personhood missionary

Christians for Personhood
PO Box 12222
Columbia, SC, 29211

CP@spiritcom.net

ChristiansforPersonhood.com