As the rhythmic patterns of fall, family and church life return, I would like to ask you to act on two important legislative items coming in the 2026 session. The session officially begins the first week of January, but legislators and lobbyists are hard at work right now building allies and making deals to push their agenda items through our state’s legislature. Your SCBaptist Christian Life and Public Affairs Committee (CLPAC) works yearlong to encourage legislators and governing officials and to educate and empower SCBaptists like you for effective action.
Each year we hold seven or eight priorities closely and advocate for righteousness and justice in the legislative system according to the expressed views of SCBaptists through our confession of faith and resolutions. Of the many items we will watch in the 2026 session, I would like to call your attention to two today. Please write your state representative and senator expressing your position clearly and kindly (find and contact your legislators here: scstatehouse.gov/legislatorssearch.php):
“Human Life Protection Act.” While SCBaptists are thankful for the thousands of innocent human lives that have been saved because of the 2023 “Fetal Heartbeat and Protection from Abortion Act,” we are committed to continuing “all good faith efforts to restrict and reduce abortions” toward its complete abolition in our state (SCBaptist 2021 resolution on “Abolishing Abortion”). S.C. Department of Public Health data from 2023 to 2024 shows a 92 percent drop in out-of-state residents getting abortions in South Carolina. During the same period, the overall number of abortions in our state dropped from 8,187 to 3,025.
While the numbers are moving in the right direction, we must continue to encourage our lawmakers to protect the life of every pre-born baby. The bill is not perfect but would dramatically further restrict abortions in South Carolina. The 2025 session ended with the bill in a House committee, and it was not introduced in the Senate. It is in jeopardy of not making it to the floor at all this coming session unless legislators hear from pro-life advocates like you in their districts. Please reach out to your legislators and express your fervent desire that they do everything they can to eliminate abortion in our state, protecting pre-born life through measures such as the Human Life Protection Act.
H.4176 “I-95 Economic and Education Stimulus Act.” This bill is spuriously named. It seeks to establish the “South Carolina Gaming Commission” to oversee the licensure and development of casinos in South Carolina. Several bills have been introduced in our legislature over the past 5–7 years to make state-sanctioned gambling easier and to broaden its scope in South Carolina. The SBC’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) provides several helpful resources on the evils of gambling (see erlc.com/topic/gambling), many of which are authored by SCBaptist pastor RaShan Frost.
Among the many pro-gambling bills that constantly come before our legislature, H.4176 is particularly concerning, and it is receiving more out-of-state funding and lobbying right now than you can imagine. The bill is currently on the table in the House and will come up for a vote as early as the first week of January, when the session begins. Please reach out to your legislators to clearly and kindly express your concerns over state-sponsored gambling, particularly regarding the establishment of casinos in our state that always promise more than they deliver as mediums of social, economic, and familial ruin and not restoration.
In Jeremiah 29:7, the dispersed people of God are instructed to “Pursue the well-being of the city I have deported you to. Pray to the Lord on its behalf, for when it thrives, you will thrive.” SCBaptists want families in our cities and our state to thrive righteously under the favor of God. So, we “pray” that in the Palmetto State the righteousness of God will be reflected in the laws of men, and we “pursue” those ends through clear, convictional, kindhearted action. Reach out to your district’s representatives this month to let them know you’re praying for them and how you feel about these two legislative issues to be discussed in the 2026 session.