SC senators deny proposed abortion ban was a ‘bargaining chip’ in hemp debates

A step toward making South Carolina’s six-week abortion ban more restrictive was described as a “bargaining chip” by one state lawmaker Tuesday, saying it was exchanged for support for a hemp regulation that passed in the Senate last month.

“I’m not going to do these deals, but I know that they’re happening,” state Sen. Margie Bright Matthews told reporters on Tuesday. “It’s my belief that they’re happening. It’s obvious. You have to be Stevie Wonder to not see it.”

But Republican senators involved in hemp debates and the abortion ban hearing denied knowledge of — or the existence — of such a bargain.

“There’s been no discussion to bring up an abortion bill at all,” Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey, R-Edgefield, said Tuesday. “There was no deal made on hemp about abortion or anything else. There were no deals made.” It wasn’t even a conversation, he said.

During a hearing for a near-total abortion ban Tuesday morning, Matthews claimed the abortion bill was a “bargaining chip” for support for another bill. Afterward, she told reporters she believed support for THC bill was exchanged for progress on the abortion ban.

“This is just a pomp and circumstance performance that you should not take serious,” Matthews said during the hearing. “Because this is, it is my suspicion, as me, the senator from Colleton, that on the backs of women and children who need to be protected, this is just a bill that was brought forward as a bargaining chip for another bill.”

State Sen. Richard Cash, R-Anderson, immediately responded to Matthews’ suggestion during the hearing, denying any deal was made to pass a hemp-derived THC regulation in the Senate last month.

“That’s a complete falsehood,” Cash said. “There was no bargaining chip. There was no deal involving the THC bill that’s been reported by a certain news organization. That’s a complete falsehood. There was no deal. There was never even such a discussion.”

Digital platform FitsNews posted about the alleged bargain involving the hemp bill in March.

The proposed abortion ban passed out of an initial panel of senators Wednesday morning.

Cash has long pushed for a near-total abortion ban. On April 1, he filed a long shot bill to ban all abortions except for when the life of the pregnant woman is at risk. The proposal also strips exemptions from current law, like allowing abortions in cases of rape, incest or fatal fetal anomalies. It had an initial hearing Tuesday.

Cash held hearings on another near-total abortion ban bill last fall, but it failed 3-2 after several Republican lawmakers didn’t vote. Several senators said criminalizing the woman who receives an abortion and removing exemptions went too far and was out of step with their constituents.

Even though the bill passed a small panel of lawmakers Wednesday, it is unlikely the bill would receive a vote on the Senate floor this year. With just a few weeks left of session, any contested Senate bill should be on the floor this week, Massey said. Plus, the abortion bills hasn’t been talked about as a priority for the caucus, he said.

“There has been no conversation, zero conversation, about bringing the bill up on the floor,” Massey said.

Cash said Wednesday bringing abortion bans to the floor are always a fight, but it is a possibility his bill receives a vote this year.

Tuesday’s bill makes the woman who receives an abortion guilty of a misdemeanor, rather than a felony. Several anti-abortion advocates said the proposal was too soft on people who had abortions during the hearing Tuesday.

Speculation about a bargain over THC vote

State Sen. Danny Verdin, R-Laurens, scheduled the Tuesday hearing April 10, according to the public meeting notice. Verdin, who chairs the Medical Affairs Committee, said the meeting was scheduled after committee members expressed interest in hearing the bill.

“I only heard of it peripherally,” Verdin told reporters of the alleged bargain. “I didn’t even read the accounts where it was generated.”

Last month, Republican Senate leaders struggled to pass a regulation on hemp-derived THC products after Democratic lawmakers described the bill as too restrictive and conservative Senators were reluctant to legalize the high-inducing drinks and gummies.

An initial compromise on hemp products failed just after midnight in the Senate. But the next day, after hours of closed doors negotiation, the Senate passed a new proposal 35-4. Sens. Lee Bright, R-Spartanburg, Billy Garrett, R-Greenwood, Matthews and Ed Sutton, D-Charleston, voted against the regulation.

State Sen. Michael Johnson, R-York, steered the regulation through the Senate and said negotiations required “family conversations” in his caucus last month. But concerns around not doing anything to regulate high-inducing THC products, which can be sold to children under current state law, pushed many Republicans to change their vote, Johnson told reporters after the hemp vote on March 19.

This story was originally published April 15, 2026 at 5:00 AM.