Boston, Mass., Aug 23, 2023 / 14:23 pm
South Carolina’s Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that a law protecting unborn babies with detectable heartbeats from abortion is constitutional and can go into effect.
The ruling ended a circuit court’s injunction that had temporarily blocked the Fetal Heartbeat and Protection from Abortion Act, which was signed by Republican Gov. Henry McMaster in May. Planned Parenthood and Greenville Women’s Clinic had requested the injunction, claiming the law violates constitutional rights to privacy, equal protection, and substantive due process.
The 4-1 ruling is a victory for pro-life legislators in the state, which passed a similar law in 2021. That law was blocked more than a year later and struck down by the state Supreme Court in January of this year.
Since then, Justice Kaye Hearn — who was the only female on the court and wrote the majority opinion striking down the 2021 bill — retired because of age requirements and was replaced by Justice Garrison Hill.