South Carolina Supreme Court rules fetal heartbeat law ‘unconstitutional’ – By Chris Pandolfo (Fox News) / Jan 5, 2023
Court found that banning abortion after six weeks’ pregnancy ‘is an unreasonable restriction upon a woman’s right to privacy’
A South Carolina state law that would have restricted abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected was declared unconstitutional by the state’s Supreme Court.
In a 3-2 decision Thursday, the South Carolina Supreme Court said the Fetal Heartbeat Act illegally infringes on a woman’s right to privacy. The act was signed into law by Gov. Henry McMaster in 2021 and prohibited abortion once a fetus’s heartbeat can be detected, which usually occurs around six weeks of pregnancy.
Writing for the majority, Justice Kaye Hearn said, “We hold that the decision to terminate a pregnancy rests upon the utmost personal and private considerations imaginable, and implicates a woman’s right to privacy. While this right is not absolute and must be balanced against the State’s interest in protecting unborn life, this Act, which severely limits — and in many instances completely forecloses — abortion, is an unreasonable restriction upon a woman’s right to privacy, and is therefore unconstitutional.”
