5 things to know about SC 6-week abortion ban now that Supreme Court has ruled it constitutional
South Carolina’s long-contested six-week abortion ban is no longer in limbo.
The S.C. Supreme Court decided in a 4-1 ruling on Wednesday that the state’s six-week abortion ban is constitutional and can go into effect. The Supreme Court in June heard oral arguments over whether the revived version of the state’s abortion ban violates a woman’s right to privacy under the state’s constitution.
Here are five things to know about the state’s six-week abortion ban.
- The ban prohibits abortions in South Carolina once fetal cardiac activity is detected, which is typically around the sixth week of pregnancy. Critics have argued that most women don’t even know they are pregnant by then.
- The ban includes exceptions for rape and incest within 12 weeks, in cases of fatal fetal anomaly and in cases to protect the mother’s life.
- The law requires child support to start at conception and lets judges decide if a minor can have an abortion should a parent or guardian be unavailable.
- The five Supreme Court judges who upheld the ban were all male. To help ensure the ban would be upheld, the Republican-led General Assembly changed the makeup of the Supreme Court. Former Justice Kaye Hearn, previously the only woman on the court, reached the mandatory 72-year-old retirement age this year and was replaced by Justice Gary Hill. Hearn helped strike down an earlier version of the six-week ban in 2021.
- Doctors would be subject to civil liability and would lose their license if found they violated the law.
Patrick McCreless
The State