Abortion

2025-2026 Bill 4654: Abortion - South Carolina Legislature Online

South Carolina General Assembly
126th Session, 2025-2026
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H. 4654
STATUS INFORMATION
General Bill
Sponsors: Reps. Edgerton, Oremus and Chumley
Document Path: LC-0358VR26.docx
Introduced in the House on January 13, 2026
Currently residing in the House Committee on
Judiciary
Summary: Abortion
HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS

Date

Body

Action Description with journal page number

12/16/2025

House

Prefiled

12/16/2025

House

Referred to Committee on
Judiciary

1/13/2026

House

Introduced and read first time (
House Journal-page 47
)

1/13/2026

House

Referred to Committee on
Judiciary
(
House Journal-page 47
)

View the latest
legislative information
at the website
VERSIONS OF THIS BILL
12/17/2025

A bill

TO AMEND THE SOUTH CAROLINA CODE OF LAWS BY ADDING SECTION
16-15-260
SO AS TO CREATE THE CRIMINAL OFFENSE OF COERCION TO OBTAIN AN
ABORTION; TO ESTABLISH PENALTIES; AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.

B
e it enacted by the
General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

S
ECTION 1.
A
rticle 1, Chapter 15, Title 16 of the S.C. Code is
amended by adding:

S
ection
16-15-260
.
(
A) Coercion to obtain
an abortion is the unlawful act of a person engaging in coercion with knowledge
that a woman is pregnant and with the intent to compel the woman to obtain an
abortion when the woman has expressed her desire to not obtain an abortion.

(
B)
(
1) A person who violates the
provisions of subsection (A) is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction,
must be fined not more than five thousand dollars or imprisoned not more than
one year, or both; or

(
2)
If the person violating the provisions of subsection (A) is the father or the
putative father of the pregnant woman's unborn child and, at the time of the
violation, the person is eighteen years of age or older and the pregnant woman
is a minor under the age of eighteen years of age, the person is guilty of a misdemeanor
and, upon conviction, must be fined not more than ten thousand dollars or
imprisoned not more than one year, or both.

(
C)
As used in this section:

(
1)
"Abortion" means the same as defined in Section
44-41-610
.

(
2)
"Coercion" means any of the following:

(
a)
threatening to harm or physically restrain an individual or the creation or
execution of any scheme, plan, or pattern intended to cause an individual to
believe that failure to perform an act would result in financial harm to, or
physical restraint of, an individual;

(
b)
abusing or threatening abuse of the legal system, including threats of arrest
or deportation without regard to whether the individual being threatened is
subject to arrest or deportation under the laws of this State or the United
States;

(
c)
knowingly destroying, concealing, removing, confiscating, or possessing any
actual or purported passport or other immigration document or any other actual
or purported government identification document from an individual without
regard to whether the documents are fraudulent or fraudulently obtained; or

(
d)
facilitating or controlling an individual's access to a controlled substance,
as defined in Section
44-53-110
, and amendments thereto, other than for a
legitimate medical purpose.

(
3)
"Financial harm" means any of the following:

(
a)
any loan, promissory note, or other credit instrument that provides for
interest at a rate that is prohibited by state or federal law;

(
b)
any employment contract or other agreement for the payment of wages that
violates Chapter 10, Title 41;

(
c)
blackmail as defined in Section
16-17-640
; or

(
d)
any other adverse financial consequence.

(
4)
"Unborn child" means the same as defined in Section
44-41-610
.

S
ECTION 2. This act takes effect upon approval
by the Governor.

----XX----

This web page was last updated on December 17, 2025 at 2:11 PM