South Carolina will soon have a notable gender disparity in the state's legislature, after the chamber's only three Republican women defended abortion access and then lost their seats.
State Sens. Penry Gustafson, Sandy Senn and Katrina Shealy went against the rest of their majority party and helped block a near-total abortion ban that excluded exemptions for rape or incest.
Now, none of these women will return after 2024.
Gustafson and Senn each lost their primary races on June 11 to male challengers. Shealy, South Carolina's current longest-serving female senator, then lost her spot in a runoff election June 25 against a man.
The three Republican women were a part of a five-member contingent dubbed the "Sister Senators," along with state Sens. Mia McLeod, an independent, and Margie Bright Matthews, a Democrat. Another Democrat, state Sen. Tameika Isaac Devine, later became the sixth member of the group by winning a special election in January.
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