Susan B. Anthony List backing SC governor in first 2022 endorsement

The Susan B. Anthony List, a conservative anti-abortion group, is backing South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster (R) for reelection in its first 2022 endorsement.

Marjorie Dannenfelser, the group’s president, was interviewed by The Associated Press before attending an event in the state to announce the endorsement.

“Endorsing a governor like Gov. McMaster is part of the culminating point of the whole movement,” she told the outlet.

Dannenfelser and other officials are announcing the endorsement Wednesday in Greenville, S.C.

Dannenfelser told the AP that McMaster is “a hero in defending life,” citing South Carolina’s new anti-abortion law and his defense of an anti-abortion law in Mississippi.

Mississippi’s and South Carolina’s new abortion laws are held up in court until the Supreme Court makes a ruling on the Mississippi anti-abortion law case that has the potential to overturn Roe v. Wade. 

The court is expected to make a decision next year on the Mississippi case after the only abortion clinic in the state challenged a law that bans abortions after 15 weeks.

McMaster led a legal filing with other GOP governors urging the Supreme Court to let the states make their own abortion laws. The filing also said the court infringed on states’ rights in the Roe v. Wade decision.

South Carolina’s abortion law that is held up in court would ban most abortions after a heartbeat can be detected, which is around six weeks into a pregnancy.

“Footing on the abortion issue may start to shift very dramatically to the state level depending on” the decision the Supreme Court makes in Mississippi’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case, Dannenfelser told the outlet.

The AP noted that the group could be endorsing the governor so early to deter other Republicans from running against him.

“Pro-life governors are key to making gains for life at the state level, and Gov. McMaster has shown great courage in this fight. He and Lt. Gov. Evette make a powerful team fighting for unborn children and mothers in the Palmetto State,” Dannenfelser said in a press release for the event. 

“Acting on the will of the people, Gov. McMaster championed legislation based on the science that unborn babies have a heartbeat as early as five weeks and signed it immediately into law. He is leading the charge to humanize our nation’s radical abortion precedents at the U.S. Supreme Court so that states can finally enact popular limits on abortion. We look forward to victory over pro-abortion Democrat opponents and four more years of strong pro-life leadership in Columbia.”

Updated Aug. 11, 2:30 p.m.