South Carolina's punitive 'fetal protection law' had significant negative consequences. The policy was found to deter pregnant individuals from seeking prenatal and other social services. It was also applied exclusively to people with low incomes, which led to legal challenges. The program was ultimately canceled after five years, by which time 42 women had been arrested. A federal agency later classified the program as unethical human experimentation because it lacked approval from an institutional review board (IRB).