Total Abortion Ban - S.323

S.323 is an almost total ban on abortion, identifying it as the crime of homicide punishable by a prison term of up to 30 years for a person having an abortion or aiding in abortion. 

The League of Women Voters of South Carolina rejects this bill in its entirety.

Read the full bill here.

Please do this NOW!

Make two calls

Please call YOUR Senator and demand that they abandon this egregious attack on our autonomy, privacy, speech, and safety before October 1. Personal calls from constituents are the most effective means of influencing Legislators!

Call Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey (803-212-6330).

Key legislators: Medical Affairs Subcommittee Members Cash, Corbin, Fernandez, Garrett, Hutto, Martin, Saab, Tedder, Zell

Share this action alert with friends and family members.

Plan to attend the October 1 subcommittee hearing, 9:30 am in the SC State House (Gressette Building, Room 105.) Unlike most legislation, Senate Bill 323 is moving outside the regular session, in a special process designed to fast-track the bill.

This will be the only time South Carolinians can testify in person and put their voices on the record.

Additional Information:

Read more about the League position.

Joint statement with ACLU-SC and other reproductive rights groups.

S.323 would give control of every pregnancy, and every pregnant person, in South Carolina to the State. The implications go far beyond preventing abortion and would put at risk anyone who miscarries even the most wanted pregnancy.

Among other things, S. 323 would also:

  • Restrict the use of birth control by amending the definition of a legal “contraceptive” to exclude anything that prevents ovulation or implantation of a fertilized ovum
  • Restrict in vitro fertilization by defining a “human embryo” as a fertilized egg or zygote
  • Make it unlawful to possess any drug or substance that can be used for abortion
  • Make providing information about abortion unlawful, including via a website or phone call

Before they meet, legislators must be told that:

  • Everyone deserves to make their own decisions about their health care and their future. Politicians should not interfere with anyone’s medical decisions.
  • Health care workers should be able to deliver the medically accepted standard of care without fearing legal prosecution. They should not have to fear that a jury would find their assessment of “imminent threat” or “emergency” insufficient. This uncertainty in other states has already led to maternal deaths. 
  • Our First Amendment right to free speech includes information about abortion. Sharing information about abortion cannot be criminalized, whether it comes from a health care provider or other person. 
  • Lawmakers should be fighting FOR our freedoms, not against them.