S.C. gubernatorial candidates don't leave much choice on abortion front

South Carolina voters who support abortion rights have no choice in November's gubernatorial election.

For the first time in recent history both the Democratic and Republican nominees for governor are anti-choice.

Lexington state Rep. Nikki Haley, the Republican nominee, and state Sen. Vincent Sheheen, the Democratic nominee, sparred lightly over the abortion issue recently. But there is plenty of agreement between them over abortion.

A third candidate, Morgan Reeves of the Green and United Citizens parties, is undecided.

While the state's stagnant economy remains the top issue, the lack of choice in candidates coupled with new abortion restrictions signed into law this year are upsetting abortion rights voters.

"I'm very disappointed, and it makes me very, very nervous about the future,'' said Katherine Giles, an abortion rights voter in Charleston. "Women are half the population. If [politicians] are so willing to throw away our reproductive rights, what next will they say that women don't have the intellect to make a decision about?"

Giles, a Democratic-leaning voter, said she has yet to decide which gubernatorial candidate to vote for and hopes the winner will shift the debate from abortion to making birth control more affordable and giving students comprehensive sex education.

"Those are the issues we want them discussing," Giles said, adding that it's government interference for lawmakers to limit abortion access. "I don't see how a woman's reproductive choices is a politician's business."

But anti-choice voters like Lisa Van Riper, president of S.C. Citizens for Life, a nonprofit that works to end abortions, said that it's a good omen that both gubernatorial candidates oppose abortion and she believes it could be the start of a political trend.

A 2009 Gallup poll found that a majority of respondents, 51 percent, consider themselves "pro-life," a first since Gallup began quizzing respondents on abortion in 1995.

"Candidates are mirroring the poll results,'' Van Riper said. "From a completely strategic point, Democrats, particularly in the South, are well served by supporting [anti-abortion ] legislation. They would get cross-over voters and single-issue voters who, right now, have no choice but to vote Republican."

Holly Gatling, executive director of Citizens for Life, thinks ultrasounds, which are providing clearer images than ever, coupled with the Internet, allowing groups that oppose abortions to get their message out, is fueling the attitude shift.

"The collective thinking is changing in South Carolina and nationwide," she said.

Still, Laura Woliver, a USC political scientist and expert in gender and politics, doubts the abortion debate will impact November's race.

"The issue will get cancelled out of this election since both candidates are on the same page,'' she said.

Meanwhile, the state's abortion law has been amended. Last month, Gov. Mark Sanford signed into law a bill requiring women to wait 24 hours before an abortion.

Both Haley and Sheheen supported changing the law as members of the General Assembly.

The new law requires that a woman be given a full day to review materials that explain the procedure, list alternatives including adoption and tell women how to calculate the gestational age of the embryo or fetus.

"Expanding the waiting period to 24 hours is medically unnecessary," said Jessica Bearden, director of public policy for the state's Planned Parenthood Health Systems Inc., which fought the legislation. "It's one more in a long line of disruptions in the relationship between the doctor and patient.''

Still, Bearden said the organization and the others who fought it are pleased it was altered from its original House version, which would have required women to make two trips to abortion clinics before the procedure could be performed.

In the version that's now law, women can get abortion education materials mailed to them, can access the information online or can pick it up at county health departments 24 hours prior to the procedure.

While abortion rights advocates do not know yet whether the law change will lessen the number of abortions, they think it will impact certain women.

"My assumption is that it will make it more difficult, particularly for women who don't have access to the Internet," Bearden said.

"Those who will be most affected are low-income women."

Van Riper believes the new law is a win for women.

"To say women are dishonored by giving them full information and [by asking] them to really think about it, I think that dishonors the rationalization of women,'' she added.

Fifteen years ago, nearly 10,000 abortions were performed in South Carolina.

That number has been trending downward ever since, according to the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control, with a slight uptick in 2006 and 2007.

In 2008, the number dipped to nearly 7,200 abortions, according to DHEC.