A South Carolina Senate panel on Wednesday started debate over a near-total abortion ban proposal, more than two years after a similar bill failed to clear the GOP-led chamber.
The bill — S. 323, filed early this year by Anderson Republican Sen. Richard Cash, one of the Senate's most vocal anti-abortion members — would outlaw abortion and eliminate exceptions for rape, incest and fatal fetal anomalies that are allowed under the state's current six-week abortion ban.
The proposal would also crack down on medication intended to carry out an abortion, like mifepristone. And it would enhance criminal penalties for women who defy the law — a provision of the proposed legislation that has in part now led at least two anti-abortion groups to oppose the bill as written.
The daylong hearing ended with no vote.
Cash, who chairs the subcommittee, said Wednesday that he hopes to hold another hearing to further refine the bill, with no public testimony taken.
"I think in the past we've had some concern about just taking a vote and pushing something forward to full committee, (and) we don't feel like we've had a chance to work on the bill," Cash said. "And, so, it is my sense and my suggestion that we have an opportunity to prepare amendments (and) have a meeting devoted ... to (the) bill and amendments. If we vote something out of this subcommittee to the full committee, it's after we've had some chance to be a little more thoughtful about the concerns."
Cash did not say when he plans to schedule the next hearing.
The Senate hearing drew hundreds to the Statehouse.
A line to get inside the Senate building snaked around the south side of the complex, with law enforcement from the Senate and state looking on.
Outside the hearing also featured "Freeda," an inflatable 20-foot IUD.
Speakers came from all parts of the state, ranging from pastors, to activists, doctors and mothers.
Matt Brock, executive director of anti-abortion group Equal Protect South Carolina, told senators the bill is a step in the right direction, but said it is not restrictive enough.
"(It) still falls short of providing equal protection," he said. "A lot of people here today tell you that this bill goes too far, I'm here to tell you ... S.323 doesn't go far enough."
Another attendee, Dr. Natalie Gregory, an OBGYN based in the Lowcountry, called the bill a "significant waste of time and taxpayer dollars." She warned the legislation could further fuel a shortage of OBGYNs in South Carolina.
Former Republican state Sens. Katrina Shealy and Penry Gustafson, both of whom voted to reject a near-total abortion ban while in office, also spoke. Both lost their primaries in 2024.
Shealy, who defended keeping exceptions for sexual assault while in the Senate, said the removal will send a "chilling message" to victims.
The scene on the Statehouse grounds, outside the Senate building, as a SC Senate Medical Affairs sub hearing gets underway on a restrictive abortion ban bill, S. 323.
— Maayan Schechter (@MaayanSchechter) October 1, 2025
You can watch the livestream on the Statehouse website, under the Senate meetings tab. pic.twitter.com/F7xwT0c8ve
If the bill is signed into law, South Carolina's abortion ban would be among the nation's strictest.
South Carolina currently bans abortions when an ultrasound detects fetal cardiac activity, at around six weeks of pregnancy — a ban that's been upheld by the S.C. Supreme Court.
It allows for few exceptions, such as rape and incest up to 12 weeks and if the crime is reported to law enforcement, fatal fetal anomalies and if the mother's life is in danger.
In year's past, near-total abortion bans have failed to clear the state Senate.
That, however, was under different membership and when the Senate had three Republican women senators, all of whom opposed the restrictive abortion ban.
All three lost their Senate seats in the 2024 GOP primaries.
Still Republican-controlled, the Senate has tilted more conservative.
Only two women, both of whom are Democrats, now serve in the upper chamber.
But it's unclear whether the legislation will ever make it to the governor's desk next year or even get through the Senate chamber.
In both the House and Senate, eliminating exceptions has not been popular.
Physicians and Senate Democrats also expressed concern Wednesday that the bill could lead to restrictions on contraception and in vitro fertilization. The bill's backers have denied that the proposal goes that far.
And S.C. Citizens for Life and the Palmetto Family Alliance — both groups have pushed for tighter abortion restrictions — said they could not vote for the bill as written.
"However, in reviewing S. 323, we are concerned with several provisions of this bill, most notably, the criminalization of women as well as the provision to compel testimony from pregnancy care center’s staff and volunteers against their clients," Palmetto Family Alliance President Steve Pettit said in a statement ahead of Wednesday's hearing. "For these reasons, we are unable to support this bill as proposed."
In September, Gov. Henry McMaster told reporters he considers the state's six-week ban a "good resting place." McMaster, now South Carolina's longest-serving governor, is term limited with one more year in office.
