South Carolina Supreme Court Strikes “Heartbeat” Abortion Ban
- January 06, 2023
The South Carolina Supreme Court overturned January 5 a state law banning abortion after around six-weeks of pregnancy, finding the law is an unreasonable invasion of privacy and is unconstitutional under article I, section 10 of the South Carolina Constitution.
The law at issue—the Fetal Heartbeat and Protection from Abortion Act—prohibits abortion after a fetal heartbeat can be detected, which is usually around six weeks after conception.
While acknowledging the state's interest in protecting unborn life, the high court held that the decision to terminate a pregnancy “rests upon the utmost personal and private considerations imaginable, and implicates a woman's right to privacy.”
The high court found the law went too far by severely limiting, and in many instances completely foreclosing, abortion, which the court deemed “an unreasonable restriction upon a woman's right to privacy and. . . therefore unconstitutional.”
The 3-2 decision comes months after the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, 142 S. Ct. 2228, 2242 (2022), which overturned longstanding precedent in Roe v. Wade and found instead that the U.S. Constitution does not guarantee a woman’s right to privacy in pregnancy decisions.
In contrast, the court highlighted that South Carolina is one of only ten states to include a specific right to privacy in its constitution. That right of privacy is violated by the law banning abortion, the high court said, noting “few decisions in life are more private than the decision whether to terminate a pregnancy.”
Planned Parenthood South Atlantic v. South Carolina, No. 28127 (S.C. Jan. 5, 2023).