April 28, 2025
Students for Life Action (SFLAction) hit the ground running at the South Carolina State House last week, advocating for Protection at Conception, House Bill 3457, the Human Life Protection Act. The measure is stalled in the House Judiciary Committee and would prohibit most abortions within the Palmetto State, except in cases of medical emergencies. It would create penalties for those profiting from the deaths of preborn children.
Rep. John McCravy, who is the bill’s sponsor, notes that H. 3457 had a hearing March 4th in the Judiciary’s Constitutional Laws Subcommittee but lingers because the bill is being held by House Judiciary Chairman Rep. Weston Newton in the committee. Speaker G. Murrell Smith Jr. is not forcing a vote on the bill, notes Ryan Hoppe, on the SFLAction’s State Legislative team.
SFLAction’s efforts to get the bill moving have included blasting Newton and Smith with a text, call, and email campaign, door knocking in both of their districts, and organizing multiple lobbying days at the State House–including one this past Wednesday.
Our lobbying day this week was a resounding success and included interviews, a Cemetery of the Innocents display, and a mobile billboard truck.
Despite some opposition to the bill, there are many South Carolina legislators who support it, and throughout the day, we met with strong pro-life leaders in both the House and Senate. On the House side, we met with McCravy, Rep. Sarita Edgerton, Rep. Mark Willis, and Rep. David Vaughan. We also met with Sen. Richard Cash and Sen. Billy Garrett on the Senate side.
SFLAction and Sen. Richard Cash, Senate bill sponsor.
McCravy said he is encouraged by SFLAction drawing attention to this issue. “As legislators, we tend to respond to grassroots efforts, and I think this effort is important, and so important and encouraging to pro-life legislators, to see our young people engage and to know the next generation is coming along.”
We also spoke with Alicia Foreman, Students for Life of America’s (SFLA) Regional Coordinator for the Carolinas. Foreman commented on the shift she’s noticed in young people’s attitudes toward pro-life issues.
“We see a big movement in the youth lately that once they’re educated on what abortion actually is and who the child in the womb is, they want to protect them,” she said.
Foreman added that this is “contrary to what our media tells us today,” noting that more students are embracing pro-life values.
To amplify our message, SFLAction set up a Cemetery of the Innocents display with a collection of more than 1,000 crosses on State House grounds, representing the approximate number of lives lost to abortion in the Palmetto State during the legislative session.
On top of that, we spread the word around the city using a billboard truck that urged Newton and Smith to not let any more preborn babies die. We parked the sign in front of the State House on Wednesday, Smith’s home on Thursday, and Newton’s church on Wednesday.
Smith and Newton aren’t the first to hold up this bill. In the 2023 session, the media-darlings dubbed the “Sister Senators,” three GOP legislators, blocked the House-passed bill on the state Senate floor. In response, ahead of the June 2024 primary, SFLAction mobilized staff, students, and resources across the state—sending over 37,000 mailers, nearly 130,000 texts, making more than 51,000 calls, and knocking on thousands of doors to educate voters on the pro-life failures of the “Sister Senators.” SFLAction’s campaign helped topple the “Sister Senators,” and these lawmakers were defeated by SFLAction-supported, pro-life candidates.
If Newton and Smith Jr. fail to advance the Human Life Protection Act to a vote, they could risk facing the same political consequences as the “Sister Senators.”
SFLAction continues the battle to end all abortions in the Palmetto State. With 3,000-5,000 preborn babies aborted each year in the state, the passage of the Human Life Protection Act has the potential to save thousands of lives each year.