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On February 5th, 2025, something unusual happened in our Republican majority of South Carolina. A bill was filed by a Democrat, State Senator Margie Bright Matthews. That a bill was filed is nothing out of the ordinary; thousands are filed every year. The vast majority of these bills go quietly into a committee where they remain until they die. Not so for this bill, however.

S.897 proposes to remove the religious exemption for the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine for children attending public institutions and day cares, as well as young adults attending university. This means any person enrolled in public education and any child attending day care or planning to attend college must get two doses of the MMR vaccine unless they have a medical exemption, which is extremely difficult to obtain even if you have been vaccine injured.

Somehow, S.897 managed to get on the schedule for a subcommittee hearing Wednesday, March 4th at 9:30 am in the Gressette Building. A bill that has no co-sponsors. And is sponsored by a Democrat. In a Republican majority state.

So why is this this bill even getting a hearing?

The FOIA Non-Response From SCDPH

Over the last few months, we’ve continually heard that South Carolina is now the leader in the nation for a measles outbreak in the Spartanburg area since early October 2025. The number we’re told that is now approaching 1000 cases is cumulative since October. This is oddly reminiscent of another situation our country went through just a few years back…anyone remember the COVID-19 pandemic? What we’re not hearing is how many people have recovered. What long-term complications have they had? How many have died? How many current cases are there? Just an ever-increasing number that is intended to strike fear in everyone’s hearts.

On December 4, 2025, Palmetto State Watch Foundation submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to South Carolina Department of Public Health (SCDPH) requesting communications regarding measles during 2025. On February 9th, a full 3 weeks beyond the statutory requirement for response under SC FOIA law, SCDPH finally responded. The agency sent a handful of prepared notes and slideshow presentations pushing vaccine propaganda. This hardly seems to fulfill the request we originally submitted.

We are supposed to believe that during the largest measles outbreak in the country, NO emails were sent around the office or came in from the outside discussing said outbreak? Not even press releases, of which we have seen many in the media?

Enter From Stage Right: the Lobbyists

In 2022, CVS was among a group of opioid distributors (along with Walgreens, Teva, and Allergan) that was sued by 49 states as part of a class action lawsuit. In February of 2024, every state received a large settlement, with South Carolina making out with $242 million to the state over the next decade.

As reported earlier today by Palmetto State Watch Foundation, democrat senators Margie Bright Matthews and Brad Hutto were among those sitting lawyer-legislators listed as recipients of some of the settlement funds. We’re sure it’s just a coincidence that Matthews, a democrat, authored this bill which should never have seen the light of day in a Republican-majority senate.

Senator Margie Bright Matthews and Minority leader Brad Hutto at the Senate Constitutional Budget Subcommittee on February 18th, 2026. [Alaina Moore/PSW]

More information can be found here regarding the settlements and the South Carolina Opioid Relief Fund.

Guess what? CVS is also a major retailer for the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine. Both Matthews and Hutto were among the Senate Medical Affairs committee members that received contributions late last year from CVS.

WalPAC (Walmart) is also a large retailer for the MMR vaccine and they made contributions to some of the same legislators around those same dates:

Coincidentally, CVS is aggressively pushing the MMR vaccine amid this current “outbreak”, as can be seen from their press release on December 11, 2025. Other companies that have skin in the game with the MMR vaccine have made contributions to multiple senators that sit on the Senate Medical Affairs Committee in recent months are BlueCross BlueShield, Cigna, Molina Healthcare, Centene (who South Carolina was also involved in a class action lawsuit against), and SCMedPAC.

Whether or not these are related remains to be seen, but the optics are less than ideal.

Gubernatorial-wannabe and state senator Josh Kimbrell, from Spartanburg, also on the Medical Affairs subcommittee, has been spending his time over the past few months wordsmithing justifications for removing religious exemptions for vaccines due to the “outbreak” of measles in his area. Considering this rhetoric, we must call your attention to the max donation he received from Blue Cross Blue Shield of South Carolina in November 2025, right after the “outbreak” began:

It is important to emphasize that it is completely legal to receive these contributions as an elected official. However, it is equally important to remember that legislators should not let their votes be swayed by such generous contributions.

Political Theater

Measles is such a polarizing issue that everyone has to chime in. It’s all about clicks and likes. It’s almost election season, and what better way than to enter it with a strong stance supporting an issue that you know your base feels strongly about? It makes you want a shower.

A group called South Carolina Health Rights Cooperative has gone to great lengths to advertise over a dozen legislators’ negative responses to S.897, bill that mandates a vaccine. Only two of those legislators that provided a statement actually sit on the committee that will hear S.897.

South Carolina Republican Party State Chairman Drew McKissick emailed an “Action Alert” yesterday, further drumming up strong emotions among party members. Why, in a super-Republican majority state, is a vaccine mandate bill even a consideration?

The answer is either one of two things: a) all those donations and lobbying efforts by Big Pharma are effective and the uniparty plans to remove religious exemption for MMR vaccines or b) it’s for political brownie points. Election season is right around the corner and what better way to kick off a campaign than with a religious freedom win?

Is it intentional to stir up a strong response? If that is the case, we find it lamentable that politicians would gun to provoke strong emotions that could result in activism fatigue in their base.

Even the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office (SCAG) issued a statement the day after the bill was filed declaring that “[t]his bill goes too far. Since 2020, we’ve seen a concerted push to curtail personal liberty in the name of health and safety. Eliminating religious exemptions and mandating medical decisions by force is not who we are as a state or country.” Don’t you find it at all odd that the Attorney General chose to comment on a piece of legislation like this the day after it was filed?

Are these valid concerns or is this just political theater?

There’s no doubt that advocates with deep pockets have real sway over our legislators. We are told that there is a “senatorial procedural issue” that allowed S.897 to be placed on the Senate Medical Affairs Subcommittee agenda.

Nonetheless, leadership determines which bills move and which bills have a hearing. S.897 has no business having a hearing in South Carolina, a supposedly cherry red state. We hope that legislators consider the First Amendment of the United States Constitution when reviewing this tyrannical legislation, as it states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”