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

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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, 6-week LMP
  • Medication Abortion, Telemedicine Ban
  • Method Ban

Restrictions in Effect

  • Biased Counseling Requirement
  • Mandatory Ultrasound 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

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.1 However, in August 2023, the court vacated a preliminary injunction preventing enforcement of the six-week ban enacted in May 2023, allowing the six-week ban to stand, and holding that a pregnant person’s interest in their right to privacy and bodily autonomy is outweighed by the state’s interest in fetal life.2

Restrictions

South Carolina is enforcing a 6-week abortion ban3 with certain limited exceptions,4 after the South Carolina Supreme Court declared the ban to be constitutional.5

South Carolina prohibits D&X procedures.6 Pregnant people who seek abortion care must undergo a mandatory twenty-four-hour waiting period,7 receive a mandatory ultrasound giving the pregnant person the opportunity to view the ultra sound images,8 and be offered biased counseling.9 South Carolina also limits public funding for abortion10 and private insurance coverage of abortion.11 South Carolina law generally requires that a parent, grandparent, legal guardian,12 or judge13 consent to a minor’s abortion.

South Carolina’s targeted regulation of abortion providers (TRAP) laws include requirements related to facilities,14 licensure15, admitting privileges agreements,16 and reporting.17 South Carolina law restricts the provision of abortion care to physicians and explicitly prohibits nurse midwives from the provision of abortion care,18 and restricts providers from using telemedicine for the provision of abortion care.19 Providers who violate South Carolina’s abortion restrictions may face civil and criminal penalties.20

Historical Restrictions

South Carolina repealed its pre-Roe bans in 1974.21

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. Const. art. I, § 10; Planned Parenthood S. Atl. v. South Carolina, 438 S.C. 188, 195, 882 S.E.2d 770, 774 (2023) (“We hold that the decision to terminate a pregnancy rests upon the utmost personal and private considerations imaginable, and implicates a woman’s right to privacy.”).. ↩︎
  2. Planned Parenthood S. Atl. v. South Carolina, 440 S.C. 465, 892 S.E.2d 121 (2023). ↩︎
  3. S.C. Code Ann. § 44-41-630 (prohibiting abortions after cardiac activity has been detected); Planned Parenthood S. Atl. v. South Carolina, 445 S.C. 600, 916 S.E.2d 299 (2025) (upheld the definition of “fetal heartbeat”). ↩︎
  4. S.C. Code Ann. §§ 44-41-640; 44-41-650; 44-41-660 (making exceptions for abortion care necessitated by medical emergency or fetal abnormality, or where the pregnancy results from rape or incest). ↩︎
  5. Planned Parenthood S. Atl. v. South Carolina, 440 S.C. 465, 892 S.E.2d 121 (2023) (order vacating the preliminary injunction and declaring the act constitutional, and denying request for rehearing). South Carolina began enforcing an earlier six-week abortion ban in 2022, following the U.S. Supreme court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in the case Jackson Women’s Health Organization v. Dobbs (Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Org., 597 U.S (June 24, 2022), rev’d Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Org., 945 F.3d 265, 274 (5th Cir. 2019)). ↩︎
  6. S.C. Code Ann. § 44-41-85. ↩︎
  7. S.C. Code Ann. § 44-41-330(C). ↩︎
  8. S.C. Code Ann. §§ 44-41-330(A)(1)(a), 44-41-630. ↩︎
  9. S.C. Code Ann. § 44-41-330(A)(2). ↩︎
  10. S.C. Code Ann. § 1-1-1035. ↩︎
  11. S.C. Code Ann. § 38-71-238. ↩︎
  12.  S.C. Code Ann. § 44-41-31. ↩︎
  13. S.C. Code Ann. § 44-41-32. ↩︎
  14. S.C. Code Ann. Regs. Ch. 61-12.101 et seq. ↩︎
  15. S.C. Code Ann. § 44-7-260(13). ↩︎
  16. S.C. Code Ann. Regs. § 61-12.205(C)(2). ↩︎
  17. S.C. Code Ann. § 44-41-60; S.C. Code Ann. Regs. 61-12.403. ↩︎
  18. S.C. Code Ann. § 44-41-610; see also S.C. Code Ann. Regs. 61-12.205(C)(1), 61-24(N)(4). ↩︎
  19. S.C. Code Ann. § 40-47-37(C)(6).  ↩︎
  20. See, e.g., S.C. Code Ann. §§ 44-41-35, 44-41-85, 44-41-350, 44-41-630, 44-41-680. ↩︎
  21. S.C. Code Ann. §§ 16-87 through 16-89 (Supp.1971), repealed by 1974 S.C. Acts 2837, 2841, Act No. 1215, § 8. ↩︎

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