Abortions occurring in South Carolina in 2017 decline by more than 10 percent over 2016, according to provisional data from the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control. Overall, since the peak number of abortions in 1988, abortions have declined by more than 63 percent, translating into 166,507 lives saved.
“This is great news,” said South Carolina Citizens for Life President Lisa Van Riper. “Abortions in South Carolina continue to decrease and lives are saved through the efforts of moral education, compassionate care, and protective legislation.” She thanked the elected officials who continue to support and pass protective prolife laws, the network of pregnancy care centers that provide free care for pregnant women in difficult circumstances, and moral educators, especially pastors, for the continued decline.
In raw numbers, there were 5,735 abortions in 2016 and 5,112 abortions in 2017, or 10.88 percent, according to the DHEC preliminary report. All three freestanding facilities lost business in 2017 with the Charleston Women’s Medical Center losing nearly 25 percent of business, Greenville Women’s Clinic losing nearly 5 percent and Planned Parenthood in Columbia losing about 4 percent.
Since 1990, when the South Carolina General Assembly passed its first pro-life law, the Parental Consent Act, abortions occurring in the state have declined steadily. The number this year is the lowest since 1976. The DHEC abortion data goes back to 1970, three years before the lethal Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion on demand in the United States.
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South Carolina Citizens for Life has been instrumental in successfully lobbying for the passage of 15 pro-life state laws. For more information, please see the graph that is being updated to reflect the 2017 data.
LifeNews Note: Holly Gatling is the executive director for South Carolina Citizens for Life.
