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COLUMBIA, S.C. — Women and girls make up slightly more than half of South Carolina’s population, but next year, there could be as few as two female members in the state’s 46-person Senate.

Right now, there are six women in the South Carolina Senate, who call themselves the “Sister Senators.”

The issue that brought their group national recognition could also be the issue that whittles down their numbers significantly after Tuesday’s primary elections: abortion.

“It was a sobering moment for all of us and one that I did not anticipate, to be quite honest with you,” Sen. Mia McLeod, I – Richland, said. “But I do think, as I said in my farewell remarks, courage costs.”

McLeod, the only one of the six not seeking reelection this year, was among the then-five, tripartisan, female senators who banded together to fight restrictive abortion bans in South Carolina.

It put the group of women in the national spotlight, even earning them the prestigious JFK Profile in Courage Award.

Now their fight appears to have cost some of them their seats or put their positions in jeopardy.

“The harsh stance that the Republican women took on the issue of abortion created an opportunity for their opposition to create enough doubt in the minds of the voters to say, ‘Do I really want to give this person another chance?’” South Carolina Republican strategist Dave Wilson said.

In Tuesday’s primaries, all three of the state’s female Republican senators found themselves in tough positions.

Sen. Penry Gustafson, R – Kershaw, lost her seat by a wide margin in a Midlands district that had been significantly redrawn in the state’s last redistricting cycle.

Sen. Sandy Senn was edged out in Charleston County by current state Representative Matt Leber, by a margin narrow enough to trigger an automatic recount.

Meanwhile, Sen. Katrina Shealy, the longest-serving of the group, is headed to a runoff in two weeks for her Lexington County seat.

“For Republican primary voters, they’re going to look at three Republican women who are coalescing with three Democratic women and say, ‘We’re going to stand together on issues as a group,’ and the stance on the issue went against where a lot of Republicans are,” Wilson said.

There was a period not too long ago when there were no women in the South Carolina Senate.

Shealy broke that when she won her seat in 2013 and served as the state’s only female senator for a few years.

The two female senators guaranteed or very likely to hold on to their seats are both Democrats: Sen. Margie Bright Matthews, D – Colleton, who is running unopposed, and Sen. Tameika Isaac Devine, D – Richland, who won her primary Tuesday by a wide margin and faces a third-party candidate in her solid blue district this November.

“It frightens me to think we may only have two women in the Senate,” McLeod said. “But I refuse to believe Sen. Shealy won’t be reelected.”

These still-unofficial results raise the question of whether this shift will firmly put abortion back on the agenda next year at the State House.

Wilson doesn’t think so, though he said some conservative lawmakers will likely push for a total ban, which has lacked enough support to pass the Senate in the past. He said fatigue still lingers from recent abortion fights and noted the significant decrease in abortions in South Carolina following the enactment of the state’s current six-week ban.

McLeod, meanwhile, said she doesn’t believe the issue of abortion has ever left the agenda in the Republican-dominated legislature.

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