Voters have voted out the only three Republican women in the South Carolina Senate after the senators criticized their party and blocked efforts to pass a complete ban on abortion.

Senators Sandy Senn, Penry Gustafson and Katrina Shealy were voted out of the race for another term in South Carolina's June primary election. With their departure, the South Carolina Republican Party will no longer have any women on its side when the Senate meets in 2025.

“Women, someone else has to step up. Someone else has to come and make things right,” Senn said in her farewell speech on June 26.

According to a report by The Hill, there will be only two women in South Carolina's 46-member Senate in 2025. An analysis by the Center of American Women in Politics found that South Carolina will have the fewest number of women in the legislature in the nation. Women make up about 55% of the national electorate.

South Carolina Sen. Tameika Isaac Devine said the gap between female representation in the state's Senate and House should be a concern for voters. Devine, along with her Democratic colleague, Sen. Margie Bright Matthews, will most likely be the only women in the state Senate.

“No matter how much empathy men may have, they haven't had children. They haven't had hysterectomies,” she said. “They haven't had the health problems or the societal problems that we have to deal with every day.”

Senn, Gustafson and Shealy were part of a five-person group called “Sister Senators,” which also included two Democratic senators. These senators worked together to prevent the passage of a complete ban on abortion and were awarded the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage, symbolizing their career risk for the common good.

However, conservative groups quickly labeled the three women traitors and launched a smear campaign calling them “baby killers” in an effort to force them out of office.

“When you're on CNN and MSNBC and you're on the front page of the New York Times and the Washington Post, you're constantly pointing the finger in the face of many conservatives,” said Republican Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey.

A conservative voter in Shealy's district said she could not vote for the senator after she turned away from Republicans' stance on abortion. In a speech after her primary loss, Shealy expressed her concerns about the future of the South Carolina legislature.

“We've helped children, families and the disabled. We've helped women and veterans,” Shealy said after her defeat in the runoff election. “And what worries me so much is who's going to do that now?”

The other four senators joined in when Shealy brought out the Profile in Courage trophy during her speech after losing the primary. As expected, the four other senators joined her. Shealy and her “sisters” have no regrets.
“Here it is. And it's beautiful,” Shealy said. “And I'm proud of it. I'm proud of losing that Senate race just to get this because I stood up for what's right. I stood up for women. I stood up for children. I stood up for South Carolina. And all these female senators with me are not ashamed.”