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by WILL FOLKS
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A week after the founder of the South Carolina Family Caucus challenged leaders in the Palmetto State’s “Republican” General Assembly to get serious on the issue of abortion, a group of state senators has scheduled a hearing on a prominent pro-life bill.
A nine-member subcommittee of the S.C. Senate Medical Affairs panel has scheduled a hearing on S. 323, the ‘Unborn Child Protection Act.’ Introduced in February of this year, the legislation – which supporters insist would “end abortion” in the Palmetto State – has yet to be heard by the chamber.
That will change at 9:30 a.m. EDT on Wednesday, October 1, 2025 in Room 105 of the Gressette building – a Senate office building located adjacent to the S.C. State House in downtown Columbia. There, lawmakers will receive public testimony – as well as remarks from invited experts – on this legislation, which is sponsored by committee member Richard Cash.
Cash’s bill is similar to H. 3457, the ‘Human Life Protection Act.’ This total abortion ban failed to pass the S.C. House of Representatives earlier this year after S.C. House speaker Murrell Smith and S.C. House judiciary chairman Weston Newton refused to advance it.
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Smith and Newton hypocritically punted on the legislation – then falsely attacked Family Caucus founder John McCravy when they were criticized for their inaction by national pro-life leaders.
Last week, McCravy encouraged legislative leaders to match efforts by president Donald Trump and governor Henry McMaster to advance the pro-life cause.
“It’s high time the S.C. legislature follows president Trump and governor McMaster’s lead on protecting the unborn,” he said in a statement provided to FITSNews. “Over 3,025 babies lost their lives to abortion in South Carolina in 2024 – the fight to protect life is not over!”
States were granted the authority to set abortion law following the U.S. supreme court’s landmark decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in 2022. In South Carolina, lawmakers’ first attempt to regulate abortion was narrowly struck down by the state supreme court in early 2023. That controversial 3-2 decision focused on the six-week requirement of the 2021 law – which was successfully challenged by Planned Parenthood on the grounds it violated privacy protections of the S.C. Constitution (Article I, Section 10).
Issues with the 2021 law were addressed in an updated piece of legislation – Act No. 70 of 2023, also known as the ‘Heartbeat Bill.’ This legislation outlawed abortion in nearly all cases following the detection of a human heartbeat. The ‘Heartbeat Bill’ was upheld by the supreme court four months ago, with associate justice John Few writing the unanimous opinion.
Few has since been targeted by lawmakers, who believe he should have allowed the first law to stand.
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As I noted in covering that decision, though, “it remains to be seen how South Carolina lawmakers will exercise their newly minted authority” to regulate abortion in the Palmetto State.
Will they maintain existing abortion limits? Or will they follow the lead of staunch pro-life advocates like Cash and McCravy and impose a total ban? Students for Life Action is one of the many groups pushing lawmakers to ban abortion outright. This national group has some serious street cred in South Carolina, too, having helped defeat a trio of incumbent “Republican” senators during the 2024 GOP primary elections.
Students for Life Action has already put Smith and Newton on notice that they will face severe grassroots headwinds if they fail to advance the ‘Human Life Protection Act’ during the 2026 legislative session, scheduled to begin in early January.
As we have from the beginning of this ongoing saga, count on FITSNews to provide coverage of the upcoming hearing and keep our audience apprised of the latest developments. Also, while this author has made his pro-life views abundantly clear in the past, our media outlet has an open microphone policy – meaning we welcome letters to the editor, guest columns and other submissions from individuals with divergent views on the issues we cover.
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THE NOTICE…
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.
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