May 7, 2025
Students for Life Action (SFLAction) organized and delivered a strong message to the South Carolina State House in a news conference held Wednesday, May 7th, that called out weak leadership among Republican leaders for not passing H. 3457, the Human Life Protection Act.
Led by SFLAction president Kristan Hawkins, bill sponsor Rep. John McCravy, and President of the National Association of Christian Lawmakers (NACL) Jason Rapert, along with select members of the South Carolina state House and Senate, Pro-Life leaders urged Speaker Murrell Smith Jr. and House Judiciary Chairman Representative Weston Newton to stop dragging their feet and bring the Life at Conception Act to a vote before session ends Thursday, May 8th.
This bill would protect thousands of preborn children by ending abortion in South Carolina, except in cases of medical emergencies. It’s common sense, and South Carolinians are done waiting for these preborn children to be saved.
To make sure the message landed, we delivered more than 4,000 petitions and large plastic spines to the offices of Speaker Smith Jr. and Rep. Newton.
Hawkins didn’t sugarcoat anything, telling their offices point blank to “grow a spine and save babies.” One of Speaker Smith Jr.’s staffers gave a tight-lipped smirk, the kind of reaction you give when you know you’re being called out but can’t say much about it.
During the news conference, Hawkins reminded everyone that this isn’t the first time Republican leadership has tried to play it safe politically while lives are on the line. South Carolinians have seen this show before — and they know how it ends.
Hawkins reminded reporters, “It’s déjà vu all over again for me, as here in South Carolina we face Republican opposition to a measure that voters clearly endorse. Remember the ‘Sister Senators’? Three GOP legislators blocked the Life at Conception measure, leading to our team’s whimsical award of a spine replica – reminding them to ‘Get A Backbone’ and vote to protect preborn life. Since then, all three were replaced with SFLAction-endorsed candidates. And that’s something we are willing to do again.”
The time for political games is over. It’s time for Speaker Smith Jr. and Rep. Newton to pass the Human Life Protection Act, or they could risk facing the same political consequences as the “Sister Senators.”
If South Carolina lawmakers are too afraid to vote to protect life, SFLAction will gladly remind them what courage looks like.
Here are Hawkins’s comments in full:
Thank you for joining us today for a news conference of Pro-Life Leaders calling for an end to the blockade of a Students for Life Action-inspired Life at Conception bill, H. 3457, the Human Life Protection Act.
My name is Kristan Hawkins, President of Students for Life Action & Students for Life of America, with more than 1,500 groups in all 50 states, including here in South Carolina, where we have engaged in the last few legislative sessions calling for a law that supports the pro-science, pro-baby, pro-life point of view – that Life begins at Conception and deserves respect and legal support from day one.
It’s déjà vu all over again for me as here in South Carolina, we face Republican opposition to a measure that voters clearly endorse. Remember the “Sister Senators”? Three GOP legislators blocked the Life at Conception measure, leading to our team’s whimsical award of a spine replica – reminding them to “Get A Backbone” and vote to protect preborn life. Since then, all three were replaced with SFLAction endorsed candidates. And that’s something we are willing to do again.
All session long, SFLAction has been mobilizing — knocking on more than 3,000 doors, sending almost 300,000 texts, working to change minds and activate new activists to join the fight. In response, more than 4,000 went to lawmakers — urging them to vote on this life-saving legislation. We’ve been in Columbia, again and again, including when we put a Cemetery of the Innocents on the capitol grounds, mourning the number of young lives lost to abortion during the legislative session. We won’t stop coming until young lives are respected and protected in law.
And we’re going to be handing out a few more “Get A Backbone” Awards today.
We’ve been calling on Speaker G. Murrell Smith Jr. and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Weston Newton to hold an up-or-down vote on H. 3457, and let members have a voice and vote to protect young life in the womb.
Not only have they failed to act, they’ve stood by as the GOP caucus attacked the bill sponsor, Rep. John McCravy, for the “crime” of prioritizing the lives of South Carolinians in the womb.
He’s still standing, and we’re standing with him.
It’s ironic that there’s so much interest in a Casino bill this session, as South Carolina leadership gambles with the lives of precious citizens in their mother’s womb.
Consider Chemical Abortion Pills, which expose women to injury, infertility, and death; empower abusers who use the deadly drugs against women without their knowledge or consent; and creates abortion water pollution, as chemically tainted blood, placenta tissue, and human remains are flushed in waterways. These pills kill. But the risk is to all of us.
The dangers of abortion have often been documented and often ignored by politicians who don’t seem to care who gets hurt as long as the campaign contributions keep rolling in. I certainly have observed that Planned Parenthood is a generous campaign contributor.
It doesn’t matter why current South Carolina GOP leadership has failed to act so far. The Pro-Life Generation stands together in Columbia – again – because we are not going to walk away from the least of these, not when it’s in our power to act. We will strive to rescue those being led away to their deaths and demand a vote to protect their lives. And when it comes to election season again, we will remind voters how their representatives voted – whether for or against hope and a future for preborn babies.
We also had a handful of local media outlets show up to the news conference. Here is some of the coverage we received:
ABC Columbia: Pro-life advocates call on legislators to bring up Human Life Protection Act for vote