A federal judge on Friday temporarily halted South Carolina’s law banning most abortions if fetal heartbeats are detected roughly 24 hours after it was signed by the governor.
U.S. District Court Judge Mary Geiger Lewis placed a two-week temporary restraining order on the law ahead of a March 9 hearing that will determine a preliminary injunction.
Planned Parenthood on Thursday announced a federal lawsuit against the state, which questioned the bill’s constitutionality, saying that the measure would overturn “the constitutional right to abortion established by Roe v. Wade.” The South Carolina Fetal Heartbeat and Protection from Abortion Act, which bans abortions if providers detect a heartbeat on an ultrasound excluding cases of rape, incest, and physical danger to the mother, was signed into law by Republican Gov. Henry McMaster on Thursday.
The bill passed the House, with a 79-35 vote on Wednesday, and the Senate on Jan. 28, with a 30-13 vote. Planned Parenthood, a reproductive health organization and the largest provider of abortions in the United States, had to halt the controversial procedure in the Palmetto State for a day but is on track to resume them.
“If South Carolina politicians truly cared about the quality of life for women and children, they would get to work to expedite the vaccine rollout, expand Medicaid, and address the dangerously high rates of maternal mortality and infant mortality in the state,” Jenny Black, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, said in a statement announcing the litigation, adding that the measure “posed a serious threat to South Carolinians’ health and livelihood.”
“This ban blatantly defies nearly 50 years of Supreme Court precedent protecting a person’s right to end a pregnancy. Many states have passed similar bans in an attempt to send a Roe test case to the Supreme Court, but courts have blocked them all,” said Nancy Northup, president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights, later signaling Planned Parenthood’s intent to fight similar proposals nationwide in court.
PLANNED PARENTHOOD ANNOUNCES LAWSUIT TO BLOCK SOUTH CAROLINA HEARTBEAT ABORTION BAN
South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson responded to the lawsuit on Thursday with a vow to defend the law “vigorously.”
“The Attorney General’s office has already been named by plaintiffs in a legal action to block this law from taking effect,” he said in a statement. “My office will vigorously defend this law in court because there is nothing more important than protecting life.”
The bill, which passed with the votes of over two-thirds of lawmakers, saw sharp resistance from the state’s Democratic caucus, culminating in a walkout protest the day it cleared the House.
“You love the fetus in the womb. But when it is born, it’s a different reaction,” state Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, a Democrat, said of the bill.
Republicans praised the intentions of the legislation.
TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER CLICK HERE
“It’s encouraging to all the pro-life people who are out there, and it tells the rest of the nation that we stand for life,” state Rep. John McCravy said. “We want to save as many lives as possible, and the quicker this is passed, the quicker it will go into effect.”
The new law does not criminalize those who seek an illegal abortion but could lead to felony charges on anyone who performs one. The punishment includes a maximum term of two years behind bars and a $10,000 fine.
