According to geologists, an earthquake is the result of the shifting of tectonic plates underneath the earth’s surface. These plates of rock usually move slowly, unnoticed by us because they cause little more than a ripple of the earth’s surface. But occasionally, they move more abruptly, releasing a large amount of energy that surges through the ground — causing the earth to shake and sometimes rearranging the foundation on which we stand. When you consider the fact South Carolina is home to the most seismic activity in the Southeast (a record 68 registered earthquakes so far in 2022), chances are, like Carole King, you have felt the earth move under your feet.
A cultural earthquake happens when the collective values of those who live in the culture move suddenly, causing a realignment of our moral foundation. Culture-wide value realignment usually moves slowly, taking generations to bring about noticeable change. But as we get closer to the second coming of Christ, the Church is having to deal with wave after wave of cultural transformation brought about by seismic shifts in the collective values of our culture. Earlier this year, after almost 50 years of federally imposed carnage, Roe v. Wade was overturned by the United States Supreme Court. That decision set off a series of cultural earthquakes that are still shaking our institutions, both reshaping and revealing the values that serve as the foundation of our culture.
Most Christians saw the overturning of Roe as a positive realignment of our collective value system. We began talking about how life in the womb — which, for so long, had been the target of a culture that elevates life choices over the value of life — would now be protected by law. Our premature celebration over a cultural earthquake that we believed would finally realign our moral foundation toward embracing a culture of life caused us to miss the fact that the seismic shift of the value of life didn’t shake the moral foundations everywhere at once. Overturning Roe merely opened up the possibility of a realignment of the culture on a state-by-state basis. That brings us back to South Carolina.
In June, the South Carolina Speaker of the House created an ad hoc committee to work out the details of a pro-life law that would shape the issue of life in post-Roe South Carolina. The committee’s work produced H5399, a bill that protected life beginning at conception, with the only exception being the life of the mother. In its travels from the House to the Senate, back to the House and back to the Senate, the bill was modified several times — adding exceptions for rape, incest, and fatal fetal anomaly. Ultimately, the House and Senate could not agree on a bill to protect life. The House wanted to protect life beginning at conception. The Senate wanted to pass a rewritten Heartbeat Bill that would possibly satisfy a skeptical South Carolina Supreme Court that enjoined the bill while a Planned Parenthood lawsuit was heard before the Court.
The bottom line is, H5399 went to a Conference Committee made up of three Senators and three Representatives. On Wednesday, Nov. 9, the Senate tabled a Conference Committee compromise and H5399 came to an end. With the Heartbeat law enjoined by the Court and no new pro-life bill passed, a cultural earthquake could be felt as South Carolina became (at least temporarily) a destination state for abortions. If the South Carolina Supreme Court overturns the 2021 Heartbeat Bill (they are expected to release a ruling before the end of the year), we will have the most liberal abortion law in the Southeast. Already, women from Georgia, which has a six-week pro-life law, are coming to South Carolina seeking an abortion, driving our abortion rate up by almost 60 percent. DHEC estimates that we are seeing an average of 115 abortions per week.
Can you feel the movement of the moral foundations under out feet? Who would have believed that bright red South Carolina would react to the overturning of Roe v. Wade by dramatically increasing access to abortion? It can rightly be said that South Carolina is no longer a pro-life state. If we are going to move the moral foundation of life back to a position of righteousness, we are going to have to win the argument of when life begins. We have to get out of our churches and into the culture with a persuasive, biblical defense of the sanctity of life. We need to convince a majority of South Carolinians that life is precious because it retains and reflects God’s image. We have to convince a handful of Republican Senators that life should be protected. Or, we have to mobilize the “silent majority” to replace those Senators with those who do believe life is sacred and it begins at conception. Removing Roe pulled back the cultural curtain to reveal that some politicians have used Roe as an excuse for coming up short on pro-life votes, all while getting elected again and again under a pro-life banner.
If the silent majority remains silent too long, it becomes the permanent silent minority. May the Lord inspire us to respectfully and persuasively speak the truth in love concerning life to a culture in South Carolina that has been shaken to its core.