South Carolina Gov. McMaster uses executive order to cut off funding for abortion clinics

By Holly Gatling, Executive Director, South Carolina Citizens for Life

Earlier today South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster ordered state agencies to cease payments to medical practices affiliated with abortion clinics.

By executive order, the Governor directed state agencies to “cease providing state or local funds, whether via grant, contract, state-ministered federal funds, or any other form, to any physician or professional medical practice affiliated with an abortion clinic and operating concurrently with- and in the same physical, geographic location or footprint as – an abortion clinic,” according to a statement from the Governor’s Office.

“South Carolina Citizens for Life applauds the stand that the Governor has taken by discontinuing taxpayer funding of abortion facilities,” said Lisa Van Riper, SCCL President. “Taxpayers should not have to pay for the willful killing of unborn children.”

Gov. McMaster also has directed the Department of Health and Human Services to seek waivers from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to allow the agency to exclude abortion clinics from the state Medicaid provider network.

In his executive order, Gov. McMaster notes that “South Carolina has a strong culture and longstanding tradition of protecting and defending the life and liberty of the unborn.”

Mrs. Van Riper said that South Carolina Citizens for Life “thanks Gov. McMaster for acknowledging the efforts of the grassroots pro-life community which has resulted in an overall decline of nearly 60 percent of the number of abortions occurring in South Carolina since 1989.”