Senate Bill 323: South Carolina’s Total Abortion Ban

The “Unborn Child Protection Act” could be one of the strictest anti-abortion acts in U.S. state law, and it is currently being debated in the South Carolina Statehouse at this moment. South Carolinians may recognize this act by its identifier title, Senate Bill 323. In this article, I’ll explain some key points of public concern regarding the current bill, its origins, and its current status. 

Key Provisions

The provisions of Senate Bill 323 target the state’s abortion laws, looking to revise its policies and definitions. I’ve provided main points. The entire bill can be found on scstatehouse.gov. The following is a list of provisional changes demanded by the bill:

1. Deleting the six-week grace period: Officially titled the “Fetal Heartbeat and Protection from Abortion Act,” this act provides a six-week grace period before the detection of a fetal heartbeat, allowing women time to discover their pregnancy and decide their next steps. However, Senate Bill 323 intends to replace it with a ban from the point of fertilization (when sperm cells meet an egg).
2. Eliminating exceptions for rape, incest, or fatal fetal anomalies: Current exceptions for rape, incest, or fatal fetal anomalies (birth defects that are incompatible with life beyond the womb) will be eliminated by this bill. Strict conditions will still be considered for cases where the mother’s life is in immediate danger. 
3. Eliminating exceptions for potential harm to the mother: The “Fetal Heartbeat and Protection from Abortion Act,” allows an abortion if a physician, using “reasonable medical judgment,” determines that the pregnancy puts the woman at risk of “substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function.” Senate Bill 323 would eliminate this broader protection. 
4. Criminalizing abortion-related information: Any method of communication on how to receive an abortion or transporting a minor out of South Carolina for one, will become a felony, punishable by up to 30 years in prison. This includes websites, word-of-mouth, and all other mediums. 
5. Revising school curriculums: Public schools will be required to show an anti-abortion video titled, “Meet Baby Olivia,” as a part of human growth and development curriculums. 
6. Allowing civil action for wrongful death: Senate Bill 323 will create a wrongful death action, allowing individuals such as family members to sue anyone who took part in an abortion for monetary damages.
7. Banning contraception and IVF: The bill intends to redefine a human embryo as a “human being that begins as a fertilized egg or zygote.” This grants legal personhood to an embryo from its very beginning. The term ‘contraceptive’ will also be redefined as “the prevention of fertilization of an ovum by a sperm.” Using this language to exclude methods that prevent a fertilized egg from implanting in the uterus, restrictions may be placed on birth control methods like IUDs and emergency contraception (“Morning-After Pills”).
8. Classifying abortion as homicide: The bill intends to redefine the term ‘person’ to include fetuses and fertilized eggs. This would make an abortion consistent with homicide laws, with the sentence carrying potential decades in prison or even capital punishment. This sentencing is applicable to everyone involved in the abortion (the mother, doctor, etc.) 

Origins and status

“I know it’s a very difficult issue, and I am sure that some people would rather not deal with it.”– “However, if you believe that life begins at conception and has an inalienable right to live, then I don’t see how we cannot take it up.”

South Carolinian Senator, Richard Cash; the author of Senate Bill 323

Senator Cash’s bill is co-sponsored by Senators Billy Garrett and Rex Rice, and was originally filed in Feb. 2025. Cash continues to clarify that Senate Bill 323 does not mention the outlaw of IVF and emergency contraception and defends its provisions. However, critics have pointed to specific language in Senate Bill 323 that may suggest otherwise. Opponents of this bill argue that it infringes on first amendment rights to freedom of speech, the right to autonomy, and overall safety.

On Oct.1 2025, South Carolinians showed out in force to publicly protest this bill at the Statehouse in Columbia, SC. Emotional public testimonies were held at a Senate Medical Affairs Subcommittee hearing that day, where citizens had the opportunity to share their grievances with lawmakers. This event was supported by individual protestors, as well as organizations such as Palmetto State Abortion Fund, ACLU of South Carolina, Planned Parenthood and numerous others. A smaller turn out was seen from those supporting the bill, briefly featured in local interviews, voicing their endorsement. Following these testimonies, Senator Cash remarked that the bill will need “more work,” and no vote was taken in the Senate. It’s reported that a follow-up hearing will be held as early as November 18th 2025- with no public testimony being accepted.

Now what?

Regardless of the results seen on Oct.1, this bill still has a long way to go before it is enforced by law. Let’s briefly cover the process of enacting a bill like this in South Carolina:

1. A member of the General Assembly drafts their bill into legal terms.
2. The bill is proposed and read in its originating chamber (the House or the Senate- in S. 323’s case, the Senate).
3. The bill is assigned a number and forwarded to the appropriate committee (Senate Bill 323 belongs to the Senate Medical Affairs Committee).
4. The bill is examined by its committee, where public hearings can be held and members may debate. It can go through this process up to 3 times, if the committee continues to vote it forward. 
5. After amendments are made, the bill can be passed onto the second chamber (being the House of Representatives in our case)
6. Once the House and Senate have reached an agreement on the bill’s amendments, it will be passed onto the state Governor.
7. Once the state governor signs their approval, the bill becomes an Act, which is a law.

So, what can we expect moving forward with Senate Bill 323?

While no official amendments have been offered to the public as I write this today, specific provisions regarding the recitation of premature newborns and the criminalization of women and medical professionals involved in abortion are under scrutiny and face revisions after impactful public testimonies. On Sep. 6, 2025, Governor Henry McMaster told reporters, “I know there could be more arguments, more debates, but I’m comfortable with where we have rested now,” implying that McMaster may be in favor of current abortion laws prior to the filing of Senate Bill 323. 

The potential risks that Senate Bill 323 poses towards South Carolinians’ healthcare, contraception access, and freedom of speech are certainly worth discussing during this period of debate. According to the South Carolina Department of Public Health, they documented 3,025 abortions in 2024, excluding women who received operations in other states or performed self-managed procedures outside of the healthcare system. The enactment of this bill will mean many different things for many different people. At the end of it all, addressing these issues with reason, education, and compassion will serve the greatest results. 

I encourage you all to delve into your own interpretation and research on this bill, referring to the official provisions on scstatehouse.gov.