Lawmakers Consider a Bill That Would Make Abortion a Felony, No Exceptions — and Punishable by 30 Years in Prison

South Carolina Bill Could Allow Prison Sentences of Up to 30 Years for Abortions

Women in South Carolina could face decades behind bars for having an abortion if a newly proposed bill becomes law, according to reproductive rights advocates and legal experts.

The measure — S.323, called the “Unborn Child Protection Action” — is currently under review in the state legislature. If enacted, it would allow judges to sentence women who obtain abortions to as many as 30 years in prison. It would also permit relatives of a woman who has an abortion to pursue legal action against her.

South Carolina’s existing law, signed in March 2023, bans most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy — a stage at which many women may not yet know they are pregnant. That law includes limited exceptions, allowing abortions up to 12 weeks in cases of rape or incest.

S.323 would eliminate those exceptions and classify abortion as a felony comparable to “the homicide of a person born alive.”

The bill also goes further by criminalizing the possession of abortion pills and the sharing of information about obtaining an abortion. Transporting a minor out of state for the procedure would become a felony as well. Under the proposal, embryos would be redefined as human beings.

Supporters of the legislation are promoting it as the strictest abortion ban in the United States, while critics warn that it represents an extreme escalation in efforts to restrict reproductive health care.

“If people think that there are exceptions here, I want to reiterate that there are none,” Amalia Luxardo, CEO of the Women’s Rights and Empowerment Network (WREN), told ABC News. “There are none here. … Historically there have been exceptions when legislation like this comes down. And so, it really is, quite literally, the most extreme piece of legislation that we’ve seen in the [reproductive health care] space ever in this country.”

Nimra Chowdhry, senior state legislative counsel with the Center for Reproductive Rights, told the outlet she is worried other states could follow South Carolina’s lead if the bill passes.

“We have seen time and time again, when very restrictive legislation sees the light of day, and if it potentially has a chance of moving through the legislature and getting signed and getting enacted, other hostile states very often follow suit,” she said. “Once we see a bill get enacted, we see that kind of momentum get pushed forward. It really opens the door for other states to do something similar.”

On Tuesday, Nov. 18, the State Senate Medical Affairs subcommittee met to consider the near-total abortion ban. After three hours of discussion, four of the six Republicans on the subcommittee declined to vote, which allowed the three Democrats to cast votes against advancing the bill.

The proposal remains alive, but the session highlighted significant resistance to the measure and signaled that support for the bill in its current form may be weaker than its backers had hoped.