S.C. House Lawmakers Will Take Up Abortion Ban During Special Session Next Week

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 deferred debate on Senate Bill 474, a bill that would ban abortion after about six weeks of pregnancy, which is before the vast majority of people know they are pregnant. Governor McMaster has announced a special legislative session set to begin on Tuesday, May 16, during which House lawmakers have vowed to pass the bill. If House lawmakers ultimately pass Senate Bill 474 as amended in committee, it would return to the Senate for concurrence. 

“The fact that anti-abortion legislators are again resorting to wasting more taxpayer money on yet another special session to ram through a dangerous abortion ban truly shows how extreme our leaders have become,” said Vicki Ringer, Director of Public Affairs for Planned Parenthood South Atlantic. “Lawmakers are obsessed with controlling the decisions and bodies of women in this state while ignoring soaring rates of maternal and infant mortality and economic insecurity. People are just trying to put food on the table, care for their families, and live the life they want for themselves. We’re tired of the culture wars, and we certainly don’t want politicians interfering with our health care or telling doctors what to do. Legislators need to put a stop to these political antics now.”

S. 474’s six-week ban is even more onerous than the abortion ban struck down by the South Carolina 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 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.

Further, S. 474 as amended also requires patients to travel to the health care facility for an in-person and state-mandated informed consent appointment at least 24 hours prior to the abortion. As South Carolina law already mandates the provision of medically unnecessary counseling materials 24 hours prior to the abortion, this amendment effectively creates a two-trip requirement for patients before they can access abortion care. 

Abortion is already difficult to access in South Carolina with only three abortion clinics in the state. Many patients who already face barriers to health care due to systemic discrimination and racism — especially those in the Black, Latino, or Indigenous communities, LGBTQ+ community, people with lower incomes, who live in rural areas, or who are young — will be harmed the most by a ban. While some patients have or will find the resources to travel out of state for their abortions, many will not. Some may decide to self-manage their abortion without clinical support; others may decide that they must carry their pregnancy to term and face the health risks that come with that life-altering decision.

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.

Access to all types of sexual and reproductive care — including abortion — is necessary for the safety of Black women in South Carolina, who are four times as likely to die from pregnancy-related complications than white women in the state.

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