Planned Parenthood South Atlantic and Greenville Women’s Clinic, and two private health care providers, filed a lawsuit on July 13, claiming that the six-week procedure ban violated several provisions of the South Carolina Constitution. did. A circuit court judge refused to block the ban in late July and recommended moving the case to state superior court.
In a unanimous ruling issued Wednesday, the South Carolina Supreme Court “had no opinion on the likelihood of success on the merits.”
“As far as we are concerned with merit, we are aware of the arguably near-close question, and by allowing temporary abortion we further support the need to maintain the status quo. An injunction (allowing abortions during the first 12 weeks or first trimester of pregnancy),” the court said.
S.1, passed in 2021, prohibited abortion upon detection of a “fetal heartbeat”, which is the fourth week of gestation, more commonly the sixth week, except for fetal abnormalities. , endangering the life of the mother and, in some cases, rape and incest.na
In fact, many people do not realize they are pregnant at 6 weeks.
A South Carolina Supreme Court order allows providers to immediately return to providing abortions after six weeks while the case is ongoing. Probably this week. “
“We applaud the court’s decision to protect the people of South Carolina from this cruel law that interferes with individual medical decisions. Over six weeks, patients travel hundreds of miles for abortions.” or suffer life-altering suffering as a result of forced pregnancies,” Jenny Black, director of Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, said in a statement Wednesday.
Republican South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson said in a statement that his office was “disappointed” by the order, but that it was “important to point out that this is a temporary injunction.” rice field.
“The court did not rule on the constitutionality of the fetal heart rate law, and we will continue to defend it,” Wilson said.
The six-week ban is being contested in court, but South Carolina legislators are currently considering legislation to ban most abortions ahead of a special legislative session.
A state House committee on Tuesday introduced a bill that would ban abortion at any stage of pregnancy and remove exceptions for cases of rape and incest.
CNN’s Tierney Sneed contributed to this report.
Source: www.cnn.com