Criminal coercive control bill to appear before South Carolina lawmakers

HORRY COUNTY, S.C. (WBTW) — A yearslong push by domestic violence advocates to criminalize coercive control is taking major step forward this week, with a state Senate panel ready for input on the issue.

At 9 a.m. Wednesday, a Senate Judiciary subcommittee will take up S. 702, a measure co-sponsored by Republicans Stephen Goldfinch of Murrells Inlet and Larry Grooms of Bonneau.

Dubbed “Mica’s Law” by many before it was even filed, the bill outlines coercive control as:

• Isolating the person from friends, relatives, or other sources of support;
• Depriving the other person of basic necessities;
• Monitoring the person’s communications, movements, daily activities and behavior, finances, economic resources, or access to services;
• Frequent name-calling, degrading and demeaning of the other person;
• Threatening to harm or kill the person or a child or relative;
• Threatening to publish private information or make reports of defamatory or false claims to police or authorities;
• Compelling the other person by force, threat of force, or intimidation to engage in conduct from which the other person has a right to abstain or to abstain from conduct in which the other party has a right to engage; or
• Engaging in reproductive coercion which consists of control over the reproductive autonomy of a person through force, threat of force, or intimidation.

Goldfinch — who’s running for attorney general — has said he supports branding his bill as “Mica’s Law” in honor of Mica Miller.

The South Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault put the measure on its 2026 legislative priority list.

Police say Mica died by suicide in April 2024 at Lumber River State Park in Robeson County, North Carolina. Soon after, allegations from friends and family of hers surfaced accusing her husband at the time, Myrtle Beach pastor John-Paul Miller of coercive control gaining national attention.

Mica’s story has rippled across South Carolina and the country when it comes to raising awareness about domestic violence and coercive control. 

The committee hearing will be livestreamed on the General Assembly’s website.

A recently published report in the Richmond Journal of Law and Technology suggests that stronger coercive control laws are even more necessary as methods of contact become more sophisticated.

“As technology evolves, domestic violence law must adapt accordingly. Abuse is no longer confined to physical injury or shared spaces but is increasingly carried out through devices, networks, and digital surveillance. Recognizing coercive control, including its technological forms, is essential to providing meaningful protection to survivors,” the report says.

Several states including California, Connecticut and Hawaii have adopted “coercive control” laws, while similar efforts are pending in Florida, Maryland, New York and Washington, according to the group Americas Conference to End Coercive Control.