South Carolina is Consider imposing a total abortion ban.
South Carolina is currently prohibiting Abortion Care Six weeks of pregnancy. The bill planned for debate In the state legislator, the procedure would fully prohibit the procedure at the beginning of October, also in cases of rape and incest.
In 2025 it is already very difficult for South Carolinians to receive abortion care. But it’s not impossible. A network of non -profit organizations still works to help people get the reproductive health care they need: abortion funds.
Abortion funds are Grassroots groups that offer free financial and logistical help to people who need abortion care. There are more than 100 independent abortion funds in the US I am a member of the board of the Palmetto State Abortus Fund, in South Carolina.
As the state New account However, the law is, however, our activities would become illegal.
As one Gender Studies ScholarI see the work of abortion funds as one crucial part of reproductive justice. Given the growing limitations on reproductive rights in the US, I think it is important that the audience understands what abortion funds do.
What do abortion funds do?
Usually a person who does not want to be pregnant calls or texts becomes the inlet line of the Abortion Fund SMS. Intake specialists from the fund ask the pregnant person for the amount they need to cover the procedure, and if they also require support for travel, accommodations or other logistics.
After confirming clinical agreements, abortion funds clinics tell how much money the fund can allocate for an appointment based on their budget, which is financed by donations and grant money. If a fund cannot cover the full amount, they will usually reach to ask another fund to promise extra support.
Before and after their client’s appointment, abortion funds also offer emotional reassurance and psychological help, also by referring people to counseling and support groups.
Extra efforts to The work of abortion funds criminalize In the state are on the horizon. The South Carolina legislation that would fully ban abortion- “The Unborn Child Protection Act” – would also make it a crime to help pregnant people travel for abortion care. Those who are found guilty would be confronted up to 30 years in prison.
Another Republican bill, the ‘Prenatal law on equal protection”Proposes Classifying an abortion as a murder- A crime that is punishable with the death penalty in South Carolina – and help someone to obtain an abortion as a crime.
Members of the Abortion Fund remain dedicated to supporting people in need as long as we can do so legally.
An abortion fund in South Carolina, by the figures
In the first two full years of operation, from 2022 to 2023, the Abortion Fund of Palmetto State supported between 175 and 200 customers annually. In June 2025 alone we helped 200 customers. Currently our intake line receives an average of 50 applications for financing per day.
At the moment we are unable to fully cover agreements. So we assign financing on the basis of appointments, pregnancy duration and other factors and work together with other organizations to cover the full balance of people.
In addition to booking transport and housing, our abortion fund will also support childcare for customers. We contribute to those costs or puts customers in contact with abortion -oriented organizations that fully refund the costs for childcare during the appointment. Our volunteers also create na-care kits full of heating cushions, coloring books and menstrual pads, among other things.
The Palmetto State Abortion Fund runs on donations of people and philanthropics; Our annual budget is around $ 250,000 and 95 percent of all donations goes directly to our customers. We also rely on a group of involved volunteers in South Carolina to help us transport customers, in addition to other tasks.
Just like abortion funds throughout the country, we have difficulty raising enough money to meet the rising demand. In 2022 – the year that the Supreme Court has destroyed the constitutional right to abortion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization—As abortion funds have succeeded Support 70 percent of callers ask for financial support. That number fell to around 54 percent in 2024, largely because requests for support increased by 56 percent between 2023 and 2024.
By July this year, the Abortion Fund of Palmetto State had already promised to contribute financially to more than 500 abortion agreements of people. During that period we had to close our inlet hotline twice because we no longer had money. We had no help to give.
Abortion care can be expensive
Since the Supreme Court of South Carolina de The six -week abortion ban of the State in 2023We have seen the distances that people have to travel for care dramatically increase. The furthest piece that one of our customers traveled was more than 650 miles to New York. She had to see a provider who could serve patients on a more advanced pregnancy duration and with certain medical conditions.
Abortion clinics are transferred nationally Because those in states who protect abortion see more outside the state of patients. In a 2024 study among abortion providers, 85 percent said more patients postponed care Due to lack of financing. These involuntary waiting times, which can delay care by weeks, push many patients in the second trimester of pregnancy.
That requires a much more expensive procedure than when the person was immediately seen. The most expensive procedure we helped in financing costs of $ 25,000 – again, due to the pregnancy duration and medical condition of the individual.
Abortions of medication are not much easier to get to South Carolina. While 1 in 4 people National Access to Abortion Care via TeleHealth towards the end of 2024South Carolina has it made it mandatory For people to receive personal abortion medication. In a state that has Only three abortion clinicsThat can require travel and free time – walking many of our customers cannot afford it without our help.
Medication abortion itself can also be expensive. Patient Normally take two different pills apart for up to 48 hoursand it can cost somewhere between $ 500 to $ 950 without insurance, According to the reproductive Health Chain Morning Star Clinics.
Who are patients with abortion funds?
We collect little information about our customers to protect their anonymity. But we have a voluntary study after patients used our services and 198 people responded between March and June 2025.
These reactions show that the states we served the most were Georgia, where abortion after six weeks with a few exceptions, followed by South Carolina. The majority of the Respondent-55 percent-products young adults between 25 and 34 years old. Five survey respondents were younger than 18 years. And three-quarters of the survey branches reported that they already had at least one child.
Of the 121 respondents who gave us information about the pregnancy duration of their pregnancy when they called us for help, only one person was more than 12 weeks pregnant. This data comes in accordance with national data that shows 93 percent of the abortions are performed during the first trimester.
Regardless of their circumstances, our customers say they appreciate our help.
“I don’t know what would have happened without you all,” wrote an unemployed patient from Urban Georgia. “I have another chance in life.”
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