COLUMBIA, S.C. — A South Carolina bill that would have created some of the strictest abortion laws in the United States is no longer moving forward after a key Senate subcommittee voted against advancing it Tuesday.

The Senate Medical Affairs Subcommittee voted late Tuesday afternoon to halt the “Unborn Child Protection Act,” a proposal that would have eliminated nearly all exemptions for abortion and imposed severe criminal penalties on both patients and doctors. The vote came after hours of debate at the State House, where lawmakers pressed one another on the bill’s language, medical implications and potential legal consequences.

The proposal originally included penalties of up to 30 years in prison for women who received an abortion and for doctors who performed one. Earlier drafts al

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