Medicaid

2025-2026 Bill 4691: Medicaid - South Carolina Legislature Online

South Carolina General Assembly
126th Session, 2025-2026
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H. 4691
STATUS INFORMATION
General Bill
Sponsors: Reps. McCravy, Oremus, Chumley, Edgerton, Magnuson and White
Document Path: LC-0361VR26.docx
Introduced in the House on January 13, 2026
Currently residing in the House
Summary: Medicaid
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 58
)

1/13/2026

House

Referred to Committee on
Judiciary
(
House Journal-page 58
)

1/20/2026

House

Member(s) request name added as sponsor: White

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
44-6-120
SO AS TO CLARIFY THAT ORGANIZATIONS AND THEIR AFFILIATED PROVIDERS
DEEMED ABORTION CLINICS AS DEFINED BY LAW MAY NOT BE CONSIDERED QUALIFIED TO
PROVIDE FAMILY PLANNING SERVICES; AND TO PROHIBIT THE SOUTH CAROLINA DEPARTMENT
OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES FROM DIRECTING MEDICAID FUNDS TO SUCH
ORGANIZATIONS.

W
hereas, the State of
South Carolina has a strong culture and longstanding tradition of protecting
and defending the life and liberty of unborn children, and recognizes that the
availability of women's health and family planning services is important in providing
for healthy families and children; and

W
hereas, to that end,
while the State Department of Health and Human Services ("DHHS") expends
taxpayer dollars to pay for healthcare services, including family planning
services, state policy clearly prohibits the use of taxpayer funds for abortion
services, including abortion services provided by family planning service
providers; and

W
hereas, for example, in
1995, the General Assembly enacted Section
43-5-1185
, which prohibits the use
of state funds appropriated for family planning to pay for an abortion and in
2017, Governor Henry McMaster issued Executive Order 2017-15 directing DHHS to
pursue all available methods and to take all necessary actions to exclude
abortion clinics from receiving taxpayer funds for any purpose including, but
not limited to, seeking any and all requisite waivers from the Centers for
Medicare and Medicaid Services; and

W
hereas, more recently,
in 2018, Governor McMaster vetoed the family planning appropriation in DHHS's
budget and issued Executive Order 2018-21 by which he directed DHHS "to deem
abortion clinics, as identified by Section
44-41-75
of the South Carolina Code
of Laws, as amended, and any affiliated physicians or professional medical
practices, as identified by Executive Order 2017-15, that are enrolled in the
Medicaid program as unqualified to provide family planning services and,
therefore, to immediately terminate them upon due notice and deny any future
such provider enrollment applications for the same," after which litigation
ensued, culminating in the U.S. Supreme Court decision Medina v. Planned
Parenthood of the South Atlantic, 606 U.S. __ (2025), which affirmed the right
of the State of South Carolina to determine which organizations meet the
qualifications to be a Medicaid provider, upholding Governor McMaster's
Executive Order 2018-21 and thereby allowing the State to deem organizations
that provide abortion services or their affiliated providers as unqualified.
Now, therefore,

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

S
ECTION 1.
A
rticle 1, Chapter 6, Title 44 of the S.C. Code is
amended by adding:

S
ection
44-6-120
. Any facility deemed an abortion clinic as defined by Section
44-41-75
, and any affiliated physicians or professional medical practices, must
be deemed unqualified to provide family planning services as part of the South
Carolina Medicaid program pursuant to 42 U.S.C. Section 1396a(a)(23)(A).
Accordingly, the South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services may not
direct Medicaid funds for family planning services to any organizations
providing abortion services, as these organizations are not qualified to
participate in the South Carolina Medicaid program.

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

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This web page was last updated on January 13, 2026 at 2:43 PM