What’s Happening:

Ever since Roe v. Wade was overturned in by the Supreme court in the Dobbs case, a battle between Democrats and Republicans has broken out in state legislatures and the courts.

Why has this happened? Because the Supreme Court ruled that the issue should be handled by each individual state. And so many legislatures, especially in majority Republican states, have passed laws of various restrictiveness on the practice of abortion.

Some have been as strict as 6 weeks, at which time a fetal heartbeat can be detected. Many of these laws have stood, but some have been challenged in the state courts, and a few have been successfully overturned.

This was the case in South Carolina, but the SC legislature didn’t give up there. They went back to the drawing board and passed another law with different wording. And this time they got a different outcome. From the Daily Caller:

The South Carolina Supreme Court upheld the state’s six-week ban on abortion Wednesday, reversing a previous decision.

The court, which became a conservative majority due to Justice Kaye Hearn retiring at the age of 72 in February, ruled in January that a similar law passed in 2021 violated a woman’s right to privacy under the state constitution. State legislators passed a new six-week ban in May and were immediately sued by Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, but this time the court determined in a 4-1 decision that South Carolina has a “compelling interest in protecting the lives of unborn children,” according to the ruling.

So, the Supreme Court in South Carolina has reversed their decision, now upholding the 6-week abortion ban. It may come as a surprise to many since they had ruled the other way before, and even more of a surprise that the reversal was fairly one-sided.

Why the change? The court explained that the detection of a fetal heartbeat seems to be a reasonable line in protecting the unborn, and that an imposition of other standards would be judicial overreach.

Planned Parenthood had argued the court needed to stick with their former precedent, and they surely are unhappy by the result. The Chief Justice was actually overruled and had argued that very point of precedent.

This issue will continue to take time to settle out in each state as legislation and lawsuits continue to make their way through statehouses and the courts. But for now, South Carolina seems to have made up its mind to be one of the most pro-life states in the Union.

Key Takeaways:

• The Supreme Court of South Carolina upheld the “Fetal Heartbeat and Protection from Abortion Act” passed by the South Carolina legislature.
• The 4-1 decision overturned a previous ruling to strike down similar legislation.
• This decision comes as a victory to the pro-life community and a setback to pro-choice proponents such as Planned Parenthood.

Source: Daily Caller