A federal court ruled on Monday that South Carolina’s pro-life Heartbeat Bill can go into effect thanks to the Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overturning Roe v. Wade. Because of that ruling, an injunction preventing the law from taking effect has been removed.
The Fetal Heartbeat and Protection from Abortion Act restricts abortion beginning when a child’s heartbeat can be detected at about six weeks, though the human heart begins beating about 16-22 days after fertilization. It was passed in 2021 and states that doctors must use an ultrasound to search for a preborn child’s heartbeat prior to committing an abortion. If a heartbeat is detected, an abortion can only be carried out if the woman’s life is in danger or if the baby was conceived in rape or incest (in which case it cannot take place past 20 weeks).
After Governor Henry McMaster signed the bill in February 2021, Planned Parenthood immediately sued to block it.
South Carolina can now enforce its ban on most abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected (after ~6 weeks), with a federal judge just staying the injunction on the Fetal Heartbeat Law. The law had been blocked by courts since right after Gov. McMaster signed it last year. pic.twitter.com/5bXHWMZ9pq
— Mary Green (@MaryGreenNews) June 27, 2022
“The Heartbeat Law is now in effect,” said South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson in a statement. “Once Roe v. Wade was overturned by the Supreme Court, the decision on legally protecting the lives of unborn babies was returned to the states, so there was no longer any basis for blocking South Carolina’s Heartbeat Law.
“Our state is now carrying out a government’s most sacred and fundamental duty, protecting life.”
Likewise, Gov. McMaster tweeted, “We’ve spent nearly a year and a half in court. Finally, it has gone into effect in South Carolina. This is why Friday’s U.S. Supreme Court decision is so important — countless unborn children will be saved because of this law.”
BREAKING NEWS: SC's ban on abortion starting around 6 weeks of pregnancy is now in effect.@PPSouthAtlantic's doors are open in Charleston & Columbia, & they are providing abortion in full compliance with SB 1. We encourage anyone seeking care to contact us as soon as possible. pic.twitter.com/C8pKyFoggp
— PP South Atlantic SC (@PPSATSC) June 27, 2022
Planned Parenthood Atlantic SC urged pregnant women in the state seeking abortion to call them “as soon as possible.” Instilling fear in women rather than helping them will push them into quick abortions they have not had the time to truly consider. This is what Care Net president Roland Warren calls the “consumer approach.”
After the Texas Heartbeat Act went into effect on September 1, Warren told Live Action News, “On the abortion side, abortion is a consumer product that you can buy very quickly. And [the abortion business says], ‘We don’t want you to think it through this decision too much’ and just kind of ‘React, don’t sit back and contemplate the importance of this decision. In a lot of ways, in terms of the messaging from the other side, abortion should be a thoughtful decision between a woman and her health care provider. [… But] the consumer mentality is embedded in order to encourage women and men to think of their children as a product — a product of conception if you will — and then approach it through a consumer-oriented mindset. A scarcity mindset. Everything must go. The same kind of approach as in a consumer environment.”
Since Friday, several states have restricted abortion thanks to trigger laws that were scheduled to go into effect once Roe was overturned.
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