Here’s why SC Lt. Gov. Evette paid a visit to a pro-life Myrtle Beach pregnancy clinic
South Carolina Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette paid a visit to Myrtle Beach on Friday, stopping by a clinic run by a budding figure in Grand Strand politics, and raising questions about the nature of her visit.
Evette was in town to tour the Coastline Women’s Center, a pregnancy clinic that discourages women against having abortions, and said made the visit as part of her support of pro-life causes around the Palmetto State.
But the clinic she stopped at is run by Carter Smith, one of two challengers who sought to unseat state Sen. Luke Rankin last year. Rankin is one of the top Republicans in South Carolina, chairing the powerful state Senate Judiciary committee, a panel of mostly lawyers that oversees the court system in South Carolina, shape laws that affect policing and help draw political district lines every decade. Rankin is currently leading the Senate’s effort to redraw the state’s political districts based on the 2020 U.S. Census.
After losing to Rankin last year, Smith this year floated his name as a candidate for chairman of the Horry County Republican Party, though ultimately backed out. In an interview with The Sun News in March, Smith said he wanted to get more involved in Republican politics to bring “unity” and “respect” to the party, and added that he’d like to see local Republican organizations like the Horry County GOP vet candidates for office more heavily to ensure they’re true conservatives. That idea sparked concerns among some elected officials in Horry County.
On Monday, Evette said her visit wasn’t strictly political, saying that she makes it a point to tour pregnancy centers around the state as part of her support of pro-life causes.
“This today is not political on Mr. Smith’s part but it’s all about his center and the great work they’re all doing here,” she said. Evette said she first met Smith and his wife, Jeannie Scott Smith, three years ago, and noted that their clinic was one of the first pregnancy clinics she visited when she began focusing on the issue.
But Smith, when asked if he had plans to get involved in Grand Strand politics again, didn’t say no.
“I’m just praying,” he said. “Just praying about it and waiting for direction.”
He added that his primary concern is supporting candidates who are pro-life and will vote for those causes.
“I’m going to support anyone who is supporting life and family and children,” he said. “Whoever that is, that’s who I’ll support.”
Rankin has served in the state Senate since 1993 and is up for re-election again in 2024. He declined to comment on Evette’s visit to Smith’s clinic on Friday saying there was “no need for me to comment. I see no issue.”
More about Evette’s visit to Coastline Women’s Center
On Friday, Evette visited the Coastline Women’s Center, decorated in a beach theme with Bible verses displayed around the offices, for about an hour. She spoke with Smith and his wife, as well as employees and volunteers of the center about the procedures they preform there, which include conducting ultrasounds for pregnant women and counseling to discourage them from seeking abortions.
Evette was a key proponent of the fetal heartbeat legislation, which became law earlier this year. That law bans abortions in South Carolina once doctors can detect a heartbeat in a fetus. The law allows exceptions if a woman became pregnant as a result of rape or incest. She said Friday that as she supported that legislation, she heard from constituents and others around the country that pro-life people ought to support women and children after pregnancy as well, and praised the Coastline Women’s Center for providing those types of continuing services to clients.
Clinics like the one the Smiths run, Evette said, do well by offering counseling and referral services that go beyond discouraging aborition.
“It reinforces that all of our great pregnancy centers around the state are looking at that person, (and ask), ‘Do you need a job? Do you need housing? Do you need counseling? Do you need medical help?’” Evette said. “It’s not just, ‘How can we convince you to keep this baby?’ It’s, ‘How do we now help you?’ And how they track them years down, and help if they have younger siblings and how do they help them.”
She added: “I think having a great support system with facilities like this is very important.”
