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HORRY COUNTY, S.C. (WBTW) — Advocates against domestic violence are making significant strides in their long-standing campaign to criminalize coercive control, with a pivotal step occurring this week. A state Senate panel is poised to receive feedback on this crucial issue.
On Wednesday at 9 a.m., a subcommittee within the Senate Judiciary will review S. 702, a proposal backed by Republican Senators Stephen Goldfinch from Murrells Inlet and Larry Grooms from Bonneau.
This legislation, often referred to as “Mica’s Law” even before its official introduction, seeks to define coercive control in legal terms.
- 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.
Stephen Goldfinch, currently vying for the role of attorney general, has expressed his endorsement of naming the bill “Mica’s Law” as a tribute to Mica Miller.
The South Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault has placed this proposal on its list of legislative priorities for 2026.
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.