Carolina’s abortion ban was lifted a day after it became law

COLUMBIA, SC – South Carolina’s new law banning most abortions was suspended by a federal judge on Friday on its second day in force.

Judge Mary Geiger Lewis has imposed a 14-day temporary restraining order on the law and will renew it until she can hold a more substantial hearing on March 9 to decide whether to prevent it from being applied until the Planned Parenthood process against South Carolina is completed.

Governor Henry McMaster signed the bill on Thursday, less than an hour after it was sent to him, but the national reproductive health services organization sued it before the governor even put the ink on paper.

The temporary restraining order was needed in part because more than 75 women are scheduled to have abortions in the state in the next three days, and most of them would be banned by the new law, Planned Parenthood and the Reproductive Rights Center said in court papers.

Ads

South Carolina’s “Fetal Heartbeat and Abortion Protection Act” is similar to the abortion restriction laws that a dozen states have passed. All have been prevented from taking effect and are currently in court. Federal law, which takes precedence over state law, currently allows abortion.

Planned Parenthood lawyers said South Carolina is “openly violating this law”.

The South Carolina Attorney General’s Office said in court documents filed Friday morning that Planned Parenthood cannot be sure that the law will be rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court. With three judges appointed by former Republican President Donald Trump, they said, the court could topple Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that supported abortion rights.

Opponents of abortion celebrated in the Statehouse lobby outside the House chambers when members gave final approval of the bill on Thursday. Standing shoulder to shoulder, they sang “Praise be God” to the sound of “Amazing Grace” after the Republican governor unveiled the new law so they could see his signature, signed with eight different pens. The Republican Party tried for years to approve the ban, finally succeeding after the party won three seats in the Senate in 2020.

Ads

The law requires doctors to perform an ultrasound to check the fetus for a heartbeat, which can usually be detected about six weeks after conception. If detected, abortion can only be performed if the pregnancy was caused by rape or incest or if the mother is in danger.

Opponents of the ban have said that many women do not know they are pregnant at this time, especially if they are not trying to conceive. And with such a short deadline, the law gives women little time to consider whether to have an abortion.

“The act would force patients to rush to a health center for an abortion, even if they still did not feel confident in their decision,” wrote Katherine Farris, chief physician at Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, in court documents.

South Carolina has three clinics that offer abortion in its largest metropolitan areas – Charleston, Columbia and Greenville – and none of them perform abortions after the first trimester. Two of them have abortions only twice a week, according to the Planned Parenthood process.

Ads

The lawsuit says that a high rate of women, especially African Americans, die during or immediately after childbirth in South Carolina and the ban on abortion would fall more on low-income women, who could not travel to a nearby state where abortion it is still allowed.

The US Supreme Court overturned state laws that prevent abortion before the fetus can live outside the womb.

Planned Parenthood lawyers noted that South Carolina lawmakers this year have not changed part of the state law that says fetuses are considered viable in the 24th week of pregnancy.

State attorneys are making a different argument: that a fetus’ heartbeat is an important milestone in pregnancy. They cite the new law, which states that “contemporary medical research” found that “less than 5% of all natural pregnancies end in spontaneous abortion after the detection of a fetal heartbeat”.

The new law does not punish pregnant women for having an illegal abortion, but the person who performs the procedure can be charged with a crime, sentenced to up to two years and a $ 10,000 fine if found guilty.

Ads

___

Follow Jeffrey Collins on Twitter at https://twitter.com/JSCollinsAP.