South Carolina Policymakers Are Starting the Year With Attacks on Abortion and Pregnancy Care

Abstract / Summary

South Carolina lawmakers are advancing two anti-abortion bills this week that could change what it means to be pregnant and to get health care in the state.

House Bills 3537 and 4760 are not about protecting life or improving health outcomes. Together, they would punish people for being pregnant and allow the government to interfere in deeply personal medical decisions. Hearings for both bills are scheduled for Wednesday, January 14—time is of the essence to highlight the devastating impact of these bills.

If passed, these bills would solidify South Carolina as one of the most dangerous states in the country to be pregnant or to need reproductive health care. And while these bills are uniquely extreme, they represent a growing trend throughout the country to punish people for their pregnancy outcomes.

H. 3537 would legally define a “person” as a fertilized egg at any stage of development. Under this law, someone who is believed to have harmed a fertilized egg could be charged with homicide. The punishment could include life in prison or even the death penalty.  This is not a theory. In real life, this bill would put pregnancy outcomes under criminal investigation. 

Miscarriages, stillbirths, pregnancy complications, and self-managed abortions could all be questioned by law enforcement. Doctors could hesitate to offer lifesaving treatment for ectopic pregnancies, sepsis, or cancer during pregnancy out of fear of prosecution. Birth control, emergency contraception, IVF, and miscarriage management could be legally vulnerable.

Pregnancy is complex and unpredictable. Criminal law does not belong in exam rooms or emergency departments.

The other bill, H. 4760 would also make access to abortion care even worse. It would criminalize abortion medication, one of the safest, most well-studied forms of reproductive health care. The bill would make it a felony to deliver, possess, or distribute abortion pills, replacing medical judgment with punishment.

For many South Carolinians, especially those in rural communities or without nearby care, abortion medication is often the only option. Criminalizing it will not stop people from needing care. It could, however, delay care, impose even great financial hardship on those seeking in-person care who have to travel out of state, force others to carry unwanted pregnancies to term , and make people afraid to seek medical help when they need it most.

Dr. Beth Cook, MD, FACOG, MIGS, a longtime South Carolina obstetrician-gynecologist and former Chief Medical Officer, warns that these bills will put patients in danger.

“The repeated introduction of these types of bills in South Carolina demonstrates a complete lack of regard for women and their access to health care.”

While these bills represent the most extreme examples of pregnancy criminalization in recent state legislative sessions, they also illustrate concerning national trends. In 2025, at least 37 bills were introduced in 19 states that include "personhood” language—meaning they would grant a fetus or embryo the full legal rights of a person-- similar to H. 3537. Seven of those bills explicitly included language that could be used to criminally charge people for their own pregnancy outcomes. And just in the first couple of weeks of 2026, we've already seen at least one state introduce similar bills (Missouri), while several other have pre-filed bills they will likely formally introduce soon.

These bills would increase surveillance of pregnancy and medical care. They invite investigations into people’s bodies, health records, and private lives. And history shows, this kind of enforcement is not equal. 

Black women, immigrants, low-income people, and those already struggle to access health care are disproportionately harmed when pregnancy is treated like a crime. These bills would make existing inequities worse while doing nothing to improve maternal or infant health - outcomes where South Carolina already lags behind much of the country.

House Bills 3537 and 4760 would create fear, delay care, and criminalize health outcomes. These bills will put lives at risk.

South Carolinians deserve laws rooted in compassion, evidence, and respect for personal freedom, not fear and punishment. We deserve a health care system where doctors can do their jobs, where patients can get care without fear, and where pregnancy is not treated as a crime scene.

Hearings for both H. 3537 and H. 4760 are scheduled for Wednesday, January 14 at 12 p.m. at the State House. This moment matters. Lawmakers need to hear from the people whose lives would be directly impacted by these dangerous proposals.

South Carolina can choose a different path, one that values dignity, health, and freedom. But that choice requires people to speak up and to courageously say: criminalizing pregnancy is not justice, and it is not who we want to be.