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A group instrumental in ousting a trio of South Carolina state senators who were deemed insufficiently loyal to the pro-life cause is springing back into action – and eyeing a fresh list of legislative targets.
Touting its work as a campaign of “supersized activism,” Students for Life Action is hosting a series of events across the Palmetto State this week in support of legislation which would ban all abortions in South Carolina. The legislation the group is endorsing – H. 3457, a.k.a. the ‘Human Life Protection Act’ – contains no exceptions for rape, incest or fetal anomalies. Abortions would only be legal in the event of “a medical emergency” or “to prevent the death of the pregnant woman.”
Current state law bans abortion after six weeks of pregnancy – and includes rape, incest and fetal anomaly exemptions. The total ban – sponsored by speaker Murrell Smith, majority leader Davey Hiott and thirty-six GOP lawmakers – would extend that prohibition to the moment there is a “clinically diagnosable pregnancy” and, as noted, rescind the exemptions.
While numerous GOP leaders have signed on to the bill, they have refused to advance it – drawing the ire of social conservatives who are accusing them of “caving to the abortion lobby.”
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“The bill has faced some obstacles, so we are heading to South Carolina to join those team members on the ground,” Students for Life spokesman Jordan Butler said.
A rally scheduled for Wednesday (April 23, 2025) at the S.C. State House in downtown Columbia, S.C. will be keynoted by the group’s president, Kristan Hawkins.
“The pro-life generation didn’t put our blood, sweat, and tears to oust the three former GOP South Carolina ‘Sister Senators’ for some in the GOP to cave again to the abortion lobby,” Hawkins said in a statement previewing the gathering. “The ‘Human Life Protection Act’ represents a historic opportunity to validate and to protect life from its very beginning and would save more than 3,000 pre-born babies each year. The Cemetery of the Innocents display coming to Columbia represents the pre-born constituents relying on legislators to safeguard their lives from the horrors of abortion.”
States were empowered to set abortion law following the U.S. supreme court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade, which had preserved a national right to abortion for half a century. State law governing abortions was settled in August 2023 after the S.C. supreme court upheld a six-week ban passed by the legislature earlier that year.
GOP leaders clearly do not want to go any further on the issue – with Hiott issuing a statement earlier this year telling pro-life advocates to “recognize the hearts and minds of the lives we have already saved and focus additional legislative efforts on supporting mothers and making adoption easier and less expensive.”
Needless to say, that is not what pro-life advocates like Hawkins wanted to hear…
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RELATED | GOP LEADERS SHOOT DOWN PRO-LIFE BILL
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GOP leaders in the House have also enraged their conservative base by installing pro-choice Democrats to key subcommittee posts – even though “Republicans” enjoy an ostensible supermajority in the chamber. The appointment of liberal Democrat Beth Bernstein to head the chamber’s family laws subcommittee was particularly galling to them – but was just the beginning of their frustration.
“That appointment was not the end of the issues in South Carolina,” the group lamented.
In refusing to embrace additional restrictions on abortion, Smith, Hiott and other House leaders are not operating in a vacuum. Republicans nationally have backed off of the pro-life issue, as evidenced by president Donald Trump distancing himself from the GOP’s traditional pro-life stance during the 2024 election. Trump believed a more moderate stance on the issue would gain him more political ground than it would cost him – and he was correct.
In South Carolina, however, GOP primary voters remain ardently committed to the pro-life cause – as evidenced by the 2024 primary defeat of three incumbent Republican senators: Penry Gustafson, Sandy Senn and Katrina Shealy. Dubbed the “Sister Senators,” Gustafson, Senn and Shealy were fêted by the far left for opposing the six-week abortion ban – but were shown the door in last June’s Republican primary elections.
According to Hawkins, Students for Life Action “deployed staff, students, and resources to the state, resulting in over 37,000 pieces of mail, almost 130,000 personal text messages, more than 51,000 phone calls, and thousands of doors knocked.”
“And just like that, the ranks of the ‘Sister Senators’ were decimated,” Hawkins said.
Adding insult to injury, the group sent moving boxes to the three senators’ offices following their defeat.
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In addition to its rally at the S.C. State House on Wednesday (April 23, 2025), Students for Life Action is holding in-district events in Sumter and Bluffton, S.C. on Thursday (April 24, 2025) to “pressure the leaders” on the total abortion ban.
“We’ll be delivering our message to protect pre-born children and joining in prayer in the districts of two of South Carolina’s most powerful leaders – the very ones standing in the way of life-saving legislation,” the group noted in its release.
That’s a reference to speaker Smith – who has something of a tortured history on the abortion issue – and S.C. House judiciary committee chairman Weston Newton. Also, this weekend (April 26-27, 2025) the group says it will conduct a door-knocking campaign in Newton’s House district.
“We’re going directly to the voters in Chairman Wes Newton’s district to make sure he hears us loud and clear,” the release noted.
Finally, Students for Life Action grassroots activists will be attending Smith and Newton’s churches in Sumter and Bluffton, respectively, on Sunday (April 27, 2025) “to educate their constituents” on the pro-life issue.
Students for Life Action’s efforts received praise from veteran evangelical activists in South Carolina – activists who took note of the failure of other groups to engage on the issue.
“It’s pretty clear that the groups that have historically fought for life are sitting this one out,” one pro-life leader told us. “It’s refreshing to see Students for Life Action stand firm for life.”
Count on FITSNews to keep close tabs on this debate as it continues to divide the ruling “Republican” supermajority at the S.C. State House – and impact the upcoming 2026 election cycle.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.
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2 comments
Pro-birth, anti-abortion. But damn sure not pro-life.
If that group of children is taking that victory lap for defeating the best advocate children ever had in SC, I want to thank you personally. You have destroyed more lives and families in one year than I could do in a lifetime. If you think you are cute, you are not.
The situation of young children who are victims of rape or incest and are denied access to abortion is particularly tragic and raises profound ethical and humanitarian concerns. Here’s a breakdown of the devastating impact:
Physical and Psychological Trauma
Severe Physical Harm: Young children’s bodies are not developed enough to handle a pregnancy. Forced pregnancy can lead to severe health complications, including:
Increased risk of preeclampsia and eclampsia
Obstructed labor
Uterine rupture
Fistulas
Increased maternal mortality
Profound Psychological Trauma: Rape and incest are deeply traumatic experiences, especially for children. Being forced to carry the resulting pregnancy can compound this trauma, leading to:
Severe and long-lasting PTSD
Depression and anxiety disorders
Increased risk of suicide
Emotional dissociation and detachment
Difficulties with future sexual and emotional development
Re-traumatization: The entire process of pregnancy, childbirth, and forced parenthood can re-traumatize a young victim, reminding them of the assault and perpetuating their suffering.
Developmental Impact
Disruption of Development: The trauma of sexual abuse and forced pregnancy can severely disrupt a child’s physical, emotional, and psychological development. It can interfere with their ability to:
Form healthy attachments
Develop a sense of safety and trust
Succeed in school
Navigate social relationships
Loss of Childhood: These children are robbed of their childhood and forced into a situation that no child should ever face. They are denied the opportunity to heal and grow in a safe and supportive environment.
Legal and Ethical Considerations
Violation of Bodily Autonomy: Denying a child the right to terminate a pregnancy violates their fundamental right to bodily autonomy. It forces them to endure a pregnancy and childbirth against their will.
Failure of Protection: When a child is raped or subjected to incest, society has a fundamental duty to protect them. Forcing them to carry a pregnancy resulting from that violence represents a profound failure of that duty.
Ethical Dilemma for Medical Professionals: Doctors and other healthcare providers may be forced to choose between providing the best medical care for their young patient and adhering to restrictive abortion laws, creating an untenable ethical dilemma.
Long-Term Consequences
Cycle of Trauma: The trauma experienced by these young victims can have long-lasting consequences, potentially affecting their ability to parent and increasing the risk of intergenerational transmission of trauma.
Increased Vulnerability: These individuals may be more vulnerable to further abuse and exploitation throughout their lives.
In conclusion, denying abortion access to young victims of rape and incest is a grave injustice that inflicts severe physical and psychological harm, disrupts their development, and violates their fundamental human rights.
So, if you want to discuss human rights, you have to be human,, and you don’t qualify.