
For the past three decades, South Carolina lawmakers have chipped away at abortion access, requiring ultrasounds, parental consent and 24-hour waiting periods, and banning the procedure early in the pregnancy: first after 20 weeks, then after six.
But now that the U.S. Supreme Court has cleared a path to ban abortion entirely in the state, some are taking a step back. Politicians, mostly Republican, are noting what happened this month in Kansas, where nearly 60% of voters rejected a ballot measure that would have allowed the state's conservative Legislature to ban abortion. Republican Donald Trump received 56% of the 2020 presidential vote in Kansas. Trump won 55% in South Carolina.