South Carolina Supreme Court Strikes Down State’s Heartbeat Abortion Ban
The South Carolina Supreme Court has struck down the state’s ban on abortions performed after a fetal heartbeat is detected—typically at around six weeks gestation—ruling that the law violates the right to privacy as outlined in the South Carolina Constitution.
The 3-2 decision, handed down Jan. 5, came nearly two years after Republican Gov. Henry McMaster signed the Fetal Heartbeat and Protection from Abortion Act into law.
“We hold that the decision to terminate a pregnancy rests upon the utmost personal and private considerations imaginable, and implicates a woman’s right to privacy,” Justice Kaye Hearn wrote in authoring the majority opinion (pdf)….