Pro-life advocates celebrated Friday after a judge in South Carolina rejected Planned Parenthood’s challenge to weaken the state’s six-week abortion ban.
A judge in Columbia has ruled against a reproductive health care group’s request for a preliminary injunction that would reduce South Carolina’s six-week abortion limit to nine weeks, according to reports. situation newspaper.
Planned Parenthood may reportedly appeal 5th Circuit Judge Daniel Coble’s ruling, but supporters of the 2023 bill say the Palmetto State remains a safe haven for unborn children. He expressed confidence that
“South Carolina’s Heartbeat Law secured another legal victory yesterday when a trial court denied Planned Parenthood’s preliminary injunction,” said Brandon Czachak, press secretary for Republican Gov. Henry McMaster. told FOX News Digital.
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Family planning signs are posted outside medical clinics. (Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)
“Life will continue to be protected in South Carolina, and the governor will continue to fight to protect it.”
State law defines a “fetal heartbeat” as “the cardiac activity or steady, repetitive, rhythmic contractions of the fetal heart within the gestational sac.” Charleston Post/Courier. Coble wrote in Thursday’s decision that the Legislature clearly intended a six-week deadline in this regard.
According to media reports, Planned Parenthood claimed in its filing that since the new law was enacted, 75% of women seeking abortions have been denied abortions due to time constraints. The organization also claimed that almost seven-eighths of these patients could have had abortions if they had been allowed to do so at nine weeks of age.
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South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster signed a bill on February 18, 2021, banning nearly all abortions in the state. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins)
Critics also argued that many women do not know they are pregnant after six weeks.
But South Carolina testified that the 6-week-old fetus’ heart beats “steadily, repeatedly, and rhythmically,” even though the organ is not yet fully formed.
Jenny Black, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, expressed disappointment in Coble’s decision in a statement to Fox News Digital.
“Given the impact of this case on the thousands of patients across South Carolina who have been unfairly denied abortion care, we will continue to demand that the court apply the law to its letter. This fight is over. “No,” Black said.
“Our top priority is to provide our patients with the care they need, no matter what. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic is committed to ensuring that all of our patients are protected from South Carolina’s unjust and inhumane abortion ban.” We remain committed to helping people overcome these limitations.”
Heartbeat laws have not been without legal hurdles in the past. In 2023, the South Carolina Supreme Court vacated an earlier six-week injunction, citing privacy rights concerns.
It then supported a second attempt at a six-week ban, drafted months after the first refusal.
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At the time, the Center for Reproductive Rights argued in a statement that the only change was the retirement and replacement of the female justices who led the majority opinion rejecting the previous law.
The new law includes exceptions for the life and health of the mother, as long as she reports it to law enforcement within 12 weeks, and in cases of rape and incest.
There are only three abortion providers on the state’s list, all located in the major cities of Greenville, Columbia and Charleston.
