Abortions Occurring in SC Increased by 12.5 % in 2023; Could Decrease in 2024

The number of abortions occurring in South Carolina increased by 12.5 percent in 2023 over 2022 according to preliminary data maintained by the State Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC). What that means in terms of deaths is 909 more babies died by abortion in 2023 than in 2022, the preliminary DHEC data shows. Tragically, while the abortion industry challenged our Fetal Heartbeat Act in court, South Carolina became an abortion destination state. In 2023, the number of abortions skyrocketed to the highest number in 26 years until August of 2023 when the State Supreme Court upheld the Fetal Heartbeat and Protection from Abortion Act. From September through December of 2023, the number of abortions plummeted from an average of 930 abortions per month to 187 per month. If this trend continues through 2024, many unborn babies’ lives will be saved. The three free-standing abortion facilities in South Carolina, Planned Parenthood in Charleston and Columbia, and the Greenville Women’s Clinic in Greenville (a private facility) perform the majority of abortions occurring in South Carolina. All three currently are open and performing abortions on women whose unborn children do not have a detectable heartbeat, or until about six weeks gestation. According to the DHEC Abortion Report for 2022, chemical abortions, also known as the Abortion Pill, killed most of the unborn children in the state’s licensed facilities that at that time could do abortions up to 20 weeks post fertilization. Planned Parenthood complained that business is down by 75 percent in its facilities in Columbia and Charleston. The lawsuit claims that as a result of the Fetal Heartbeat Act, Planned Parenthood “has been forced to turn away the vast majority of patients seeking abortion.” From August 23, 2023, to January 31, 2024, the lawsuit alleges, Planned Parenthood “has been able to provide only 303 abortions in South Carolina, out of 1,209 patients who have made abortion appointments at its South Carolina health centers.” The legal action seeking to once again to enjoin – meaning stop enforcement of – the Fetal Heartbeat Act is scheduled to be heard on May 2, 2024, at 9:30 a.m. before 5th Circuit Judge Daniel Coble whose father, Bob Coble was the long-term mayor of Columbia and whose grandfather, the late Daniel R. McLeod, served as the South Carolina Attorney General from 1959 to 1983.