South Carolina lawmakers are considering what would be the most restrictive abortion legislation in the country, including prison sentences of up to 30 years for women who obtain abortions and those who assist them.
According to The Associated Press, the proposal also targets certain forms of contraception, including IUDs, and could place sharp limits on in vitro fertilization. The bill is advancing even as opponents of abortion remain divided over how far the state should go.
The measure, which faces a second Senate subcommittee hearing on Tuesday, has a long and uncertain path ahead. But if enacted, it would exceed the severity of any abortion-related policy introduced since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, leaving the issue unsettled in many conservative states.
Under current South Carolina law, abortions are banned once cardiac activity is detected, typically around six weeks of pregnancy. The new proposal would ban all abortions unless the woman’s life is at risk, removing existing exceptions for rape and incest up to 12 weeks.
The bill would also make providing information about abortion illegal, raising concerns among doctors. OB-GYN Natalie Gregory said the proposal would turn routine conversations about contraceptives, pregnancy loss, and IVF into a “legal minefield” that could expose physicians to decades in prison.
“It constitutes an unconstitutional reach that threatens the very fabric of health care in our state,” Gregory said during an eight-hour hearing last month. She called the legislation a waste of time and public money.
The proposal has divided advocacy groups long united in opposition to abortion. South Carolina Citizens for Life, one of the state’s oldest anti-abortion organizations, said it could not support the bill, arguing that women who seek abortions “are victims too and shouldn’t be punished.”
In contrast, Equal Protection South Carolina supports the measure. “Abortion is murder and should be treated as such,” founder Mark Corral said.
Mary Ziegler, a University of California, Davis law professor who studies abortion policy, said the divide reflects years of messaging that labeled abortion as murder while avoiding criminal penalties for women. She said groups pushing harsher restrictions—whom she refers to as “abolitionists”—have gained influence in conservative states.
“It’s not going to go away. The trajectory keeps shifting, and the abolitionists have more influence,” Ziegler said. “There is more breathing room for abolitionists now.”
A similar House bill received a hearing last year but stalled after Republican leaders said they were satisfied with the current law.
The Senate landscape is shifting, with nine of the chamber’s 34 Republicans elected after the current restrictions were enacted. Three replaced the chamber’s only Republican women, known as the Sister Senators, who previously helped block stricter abortion legislation.
Republican Sen. Richard Cash, the bill’s sponsor and one of the chamber’s most outspoken opponents of abortion, will lead Tuesday’s subcommittee hearing.
He has acknowledged concerns about the bill’s impact on contraception and medical advice, but has not indicated what revisions might be considered. Six of the nine subcommittee members are Republicans.
Senate GOP leaders have signaled uncertainty about whether the bill will advance beyond the subcommittee. “I can say this definitively — there has been not only no decision made to bring up that bill, there’s been no discussion about bringing up that bill,” Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey said.
