After Roe Fell: U.S. Abortion Laws by State

Hostile

South Carolina

South Carolina is enforcing a six-week abortion ban after the state Supreme Court declared the ban constitutional on August 23, 2023.

State Legal Details

Bans in Effect

  • Gestational Ban, 22-week LMP
  • Gestational Ban, 6-week LMP
  • Gestational Ban, Viability
  • Method Ban
  • Telemedicine Ban

Restrictions in Effect

  • Biased Counseling Requirement
  • Parental Involvement, Parental Consent Requirement
  • TRAP Requirements: Facilities, Facility Requirements
  • TRAP requirements: Providers, Admitting Privilege Requirement
  • TRAP requirements: Providers, Reporting Requirement
  • Waiting Period Requirement

Restrictions

South Carolina is enforcing a 6-week abortion ban1 after the South Carolina Supreme Court declared the ban to be constitutional.2

In 2022, the state began enforcing an earlier 6-week ban3 following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in the case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.4On January 5, 2023, the South Carolina Supreme Court held that the earlier 6-week ban violated the right to privacy protected by the state constitution and struck it down.5 In August of 2023, the court vacated the preliminary injunction preventing enforcement of the new 6-week ban enacted in May 2023, and allowed it to take effect.6

South Carolina also prohibits abortion at twenty weeks post-fertilization7 and in the third trimester.8 It prohibits D&X procedures.9 Pregnant people who seek abortion care must undergo a mandatory twenty-four-hour waiting period,10 be offered biased counseling,11 and be given the offer of viewing the ultrasound images if they have an ultrasound.12 South Carolina also limits public funding for abortion13 and private insurance coverage of abortion.14 South Carolina law generally requires that a parent, grandparent, legal guardian,15 or judge consent to a minor’s abortion.16

South Carolina’s targeted regulation of abortion providers (TRAP) laws include requirements related to facilities,17 licensure18, admitting privileges agreements,19 and reporting.20 South Carolina law restricts the provision of abortion care to physicians and explicitly prohibits nurse midwives from the provision of abortion care,21 and restricts providers from using telemedicine for the provision of abortion care.22 Providers who violate South Carolina’s abortion restrictions may face civil and criminal penalties.23

State Protections

In January 2023, the South Carolina Supreme Court found that the state constitution includes protections for abortion as part of the state’s right to privacy.24 In August 2023, the court allowed a six-week ban to stand, despite the acknowledgement that this ban infringes on the right to privacy and bodily autonomy, holding that a pregnant person’s interest in their bodily autonomy is outweighed by the state’s interest in fetal life.25

Post-Roe Prohibitions

South Carolina repealed its pre-Roe bans in 1974.26

Conclusion

Now that the Supreme Court has overturned Roe, South Carolina is enforcing a six-week abortion ban after the state Supreme Court declared the ban constitutional on August 23, 2023.

  1. S.C. Code Ann. u00a7 44-41-630; Planned Parenthood S. Atl. v. South Carolina, No. 2024-000997 (S.C. May. 14, 2025) (upheld the definition of u201cfetal heartbeatu201d). ↩︎
  2. Planned Parenthood S. Atl. v. South Carolina, No. 2023-000896 (S.C. Aug. 23, 2023) (order vacating the preliminary injunction and declaring the act constitutional), Planned Parenthood S. Atl v. South Carolina, No. 2023-000896 (S.C. Aug. 29, 2023) (request for rehearing denied). ↩︎
  3. S.C. Code Ann. u00a7u00a7 44-41-610 et seq.; Planned Parenthood S. Atl. v. Wilson, No. 3:18-02078-MGL (D.S.C. Jun. 27, 2022) (lifting preliminary injunction); Planned Parenthood S. Atl. v. South Carolina, No. 2022-CP-40-03569 (S.C. 5th Cir. Ct. C.P, Jul. 26, 2022) (transferring case to the South Carolina Supreme Court and allowing ban to stand). ↩︎
  4. Dobbs v. Jackson Womenu2019s Health Org., 597 U.S (June 24, 2022), revu2019d Dobbs v. Jackson Womenu2019s Health Org., 945 F.3d 265, 274 (5th Cir. 2019). ↩︎
  5. Planned Parenthood S. Atl. v. South Carolina, No. 28127 (S.C. Jan. 5, 2023). ↩︎
  6. Planned Parenthood S. Atl. v. South Carolina, No. 2023-000896 (S.C. Aug. 23, 2023) (order vacating the preliminary injunction and declaring the act constitutional). ↩︎
  7. S.C. CODE ANN. u00a7 44-41-450(A). ↩︎
  8. Id. u00a7 44-41-20(c). ↩︎
  9. Id. u00a7 44-41-85. ↩︎
  10. Id.u00a7 44-41-330(C). ↩︎
  11. Id. u00a7 44-41-330(A)(2). ↩︎
  12. Id.u00a7 44-41-330(A)(1)(a). See also, S. 1, u00a7 3 (adding S.C. Code Ann. u00a7 44-41-630(1), -650); Planned Parenthood S. Atl., 527 F.Supp.3d 801, 814-815 (temporarily enjoining the entire Act). ↩︎
  13. S.C. CODE ANN. u00a7 1-1-1035. ↩︎
  14. Id. u00a7 38-71-238. ↩︎
  15. Id.u00a7 44-41-31. ↩︎
  16. Id. ↩︎
  17. S.C. CODE ANN. REGS. Ch. 61-12. ↩︎
  18. S.B. 164, 125th Gen. Assemb., Reg. Sess. (S.C. 2023) to be codified at S.C. Code Ann. u00a7 44-7-130(12). ↩︎
  19. Id. 61-12.205(C)(2). ↩︎
  20. S.C. CODE ANN. u00a7 44-41-60; S.C. CODE REGS. 61-12.403; S. 1, u00a7 4 (adding S.C. CODE ANN. u00a7 44-41-460(A)); id. u00a7 6 (amending S.C. CODE ANN. u00a7 44-41-60). ↩︎
  21. S.C. CODE ANN. u00a7 44-41-20, S.C. CODE REGS. 61-24(N)(4) ↩︎
  22. S.C. CODE ANN. u00a7 40-47-37(C)(6). ↩︎
  23. See, e.g., S.C. CODE ANN. u00a7u00a7 44-41-35, 44-41-85, 44-41-350 680(D). ↩︎
  24. S.C. Const. art. I, u00a7 10; Planned Parenthood S. Atl. v. South Carolina, No. 28127 (S.C. Jan. 5, 2023) (u201cWe hold that the decision to terminate a pregnancy rests upon the utmost personal and private considerations imaginable, and implicates a womanu2019s right to privacy.u201d). ↩︎
  25. Planned Parenthood S. Atl. v. South Carolina, No. 2023-000896 (S.C. Aug. 23, 2023). ↩︎
  26. S.C. CODE ANN. u00a7u00a7 16-87 through 16-89 (Supp.1971), repealed by 1974 S.C. Acts 2837, 2841, Act No. 1215, u00a7 8. ↩︎