Last updated on December 19, 2025
South Carolina is characterized as a most restrictive state by the Guttmacher Institute.
Abortion is banned after around six weeks gestational duration (with exceptions for preservation of the mother’s life or physical health, lethal fetal anomalies, and in certain cases of rape or incest).
In the US, people who are not white and people with low incomes are more likely to experience barriers to reproductive health care access.
IN THIS STATE
As of 2023, 1.1 million women1 are of reproductive age in South Carolina.
- 14.0 percent are low income (higher than the national average)
- 9.5 percent are likely eligible for Medicaid, if they have dependent children, because their income is at or below 67 percent of the federal poverty level (higher than the national average)
- 42.1 percent are nonwhite (lower than the national average), and Black people are the largest nonwhite group (26.6 percent; higher than the national average)
- 12.5 percent are uninsured (higher than the national average)
South Carolina has not expanded Medicaid and only provides coverage to parents of dependent children up to 67 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL) and pregnant women up to 199 percent of FPL. Adults without dependent children are not eligible for Medicaid in South Carolina. South Carolina has extended pregnancy-related Medicaid coverage up to 12 months postpartum. South Carolina does not utilize state funds to cover abortion for Medicaid beneficiaries with limited exceptions. The state does cover family planning services for people not otherwise eligible for Medicaid with incomes up to 199 percent of FPL.
Accessing Abortion Care
In 2025, three clinics provided abortions in South Carolina, the same number of clinics that were providing abortions in 2020.
Crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs) are organizations—often operated by anti-abortion, nonmedical, and/or religiously affiliated groups—that aim to deter pregnant people from certain reproductive health care services, including abortion and some contraceptive methods. In 2023, there were 34 CPCs in South Carolina. These centers receive state funding.
Patients face the following restrictions on abortion access:
Abortion providers in South Carolina face the following restrictions that limit their ability to practice:
Accessing Contraceptive Care
According to Power to Decide, around 315,000 women of reproductive age in South Carolina live in contraceptive deserts, putting them at increased risk of a mistimed or unintended pregnancy.
South Carolina has the following protections for contraception access:
What to Watch For
In 2023, South Carolina passed the Fetal Heartbeat and Protection from Abortion Act (S474), prohibiting abortions after fetal cardiac activity is detected.
In 2018, Governor McMaster issued an executive order directing the state Department of Health and Human Services to prohibit clinics offering abortion services from participating in the state’s Medicaid program. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic and a Medicaid beneficiary sued in response (Medina v. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic). In June 2025, the US Supreme Court ruled that Medicaid enrollees cannot sue in federal court to enforce Medicaid’s “free choice of provider” provision. The decision allowed South Carolina to move forward with excluding Planned Parenthood from its Medicaid program.
During the 2025–26 legislative session, South Carolina lawmakers introduced Senate Bill 323, which would have created a total abortion ban, criminalized people for receiving abortions, and made it illegal to provide information about obtaining abortion care by phone or online. The bill also would have amended the legal definition of a “contraceptive” to exclude methods that prevent ovulation or implantation and define “human embryo” as a “fertilized egg or zygote.” These altered definitions could have allowed for restrictions on certain contraceptive methods and/or in vitro fertilization. In November 2025, state legislators voted to reject the bill in subcommittee.
1 Though we use the terminology of woman/women here, we recognize that not all individuals capable of pregnancy identify as women.
