S.C. House Lawmakers Advance Abortion Ban to House Floor

S. 474 would ban abortion after six weeks of pregnancy, which is before most people know they are pregnant

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Today the South Carolina House Judiciary Committee amended and approved Senate Bill 474, a bill that would ban abortion after about six weeks of pregnancy, which is before most people know they are pregnant. The bill now advances to the full House of Representatives for consideration and a vote. If House lawmakers ultimately pass the bill, it would return to the Senate for concurrence. 

“The male-dominated legislature is hellbent on controlling the decisions of women, going as far as to ram through an abortion ban in the final days of the legislative session,” said Vicki Ringer, Director of Public Affairs for Planned Parenthood South Atlantic. “South Carolina’s highest court already ruled that a ban on abortion after the earliest stages of pregnancy is an unconstitutional violation of a patient’s privacy. We also know that bans on abortion lead to substandard health care, higher maternal and infant mortality rates, and more people forced to carry a pregnancy and give birth against their will. In states with bans like this one, people have been forced to languish in the process of miscarriage until they become septic because fetal tones can still be seen or heard. Numerous other health risks have been discounted or ignored because of the way abortion bans tie the hands of doctors and interfere with medical best practices. This abortion ban is dangerous, and the people of South Carolina don’t want it in our state.”

S. 474’s six-week ban is nearly identical to the abortion ban struck down by the state Supreme Court in January. Under the bill, people would only be allowed to obtain an abortion past the earliest stages of pregnancy under narrow circumstances, including

• In the event of a medical emergency or a serious risk of substantial, irreversible impairment of a major bodily function to the pregnant person, or if performed to prevent their death

• In the case of a diagnosis of a fatal fetal anomaly,

• In certain cases of sexual assault only up to the twelfth week of pregnancy and only if the doctor reports the assault to the sheriff in the county where the abortion is provided, potentially against the wishes of the patient.

South Carolina ranks 43rd – in the bottom 10 of all states – with the highest maternal mortality rates. Women here die 300% more often than the average U.S. woman. Black women in the state are four times more likely to die after giving birth than white women.

According to the South Carolina Health Professions Data book, there are no OB-GYN doctors in at least 14 counties. Five other counties have just one OB-GYN doctor, according to a December report by the state Office for Healthcare Workforce.