South Carolina Supreme Court Upholds Heartbeat Law Saving Babies From Abortions

The highest court in South Carolina has upheld the new law protecting babies from abortion The South Carolina Supreme Court issued a ruling today upholding South Carolina’s heartbeat law that protect babies from abortion who have a detectable heartbeat.

South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster signed the heartbeat law earlier this year, but abortion activists quickly took the pro-life measure to court.

The 4-1 ruling comes after new Justice Gary Hill joined the state’s high court.

The majority ruled that women do have a right to bodily autonomy and privacy but that those rights do not outweigh “the interest of the unborn child to live.”

Justice John Kittredge penned the majority opinion.

He wrote, “The legislature has made a policy determination that, at a certain point in the pregnancy, a woman’s interest in autonomy and privacy does not outweigh the interest of the unborn child to live. As a Court, unless we can say that the balance struck by the legislature was unreasonable as a matter of law, we must uphold the Act.”

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In a statement sent out Wednesday morning, Governor Henry McMaster celebrated the ruling.

“The Supreme Court’s ruling marks a historic moment in our state’s history and is the culmination of years of hard work and determination by so many in our state to ensure that the sanctity of life is protected. With this victory, we protect the lives of countless unborn children and reaffirm South Carolina’s place as one of the most pro-life states in America,” he said.

Judge Clifton Newman of the Circuit Court of South Carolina previously issued the injunction pending a decision from the South Carolina Supreme Court about the bill. Now the law will be fully enforced to protect babies from abortions.

Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey noted that while there is no “right to privacy” in the U.S. Constitution, the South Carolina Constitution has an explicit right to privacy, but he said emphatically, it has “absolutely nothing to do with abortion.” The amendment was added to the state constitution in the early 1970s before the lethal 1973 Roe v. Wade U.S. Supreme decision that was overturned on June 24, 2022. The South Carolina privacy clause was intended to protect individuals from government overreach into private bank records, phone records, and other privacy issues unrelated to abortion.

The new South Carolina law could save hundreds of unborn babies’ lives every month and stop most out-of-state abortion traffic currently flooding into South Carolina.

In January, the South Carolina Supreme Court struck down the 2021 law by a 3-2 vote that concluded the 2021 heartbeat law violated the South Carolina Constitution’s right to privacy clause. Three factors have changed since that decision. The U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe on June 24, 2024. The make-up of the South Carolina Supreme Court has changed with the retirement of a pro-abortion justice. The new Fetal Heartbeat law (S474) was written to address the issue raised by the South Carolina Supreme Court about the 2021 law.

McMaster signed the bill into law in a ceremony where he was joined by members of the General Assembly and members of the pro-life community to sign S. 474, the Fetal Heartbeat and Protection from Abortion Act, into law.

In February, DHEC reported that 504 South Carolina residents received an abortion, compared to 482 visitors, according to Massey. And in March, 525 S.C. residents and 433 visitors received abortions.

“The abortion landscape has changed considerably even from our last debate on the issue just last month,” Massey, R-Edgefield, said, referring to the upper chamber’s vote in April to reject a near-total abortion ban. “South Carolina has become the abortion capital of the southeast, and there’s really no other way to say that.”

The pro-life bill includes exceptions for rape and incest no more than 12 weeks, fatal fetal anomaly and the mother’s life. Under House modifications, the bill includes several new requirements, such as requiring child support to start at conception and allowing a judge to decide if a minor can have an abortion should a parent or guardian be unavailable.

According to the State Department of Health and Environmental Control, there currently are 1,000 abortions per month occurring in the Palmetto State largely because of out-of-state abortion traffic. That means the law would save hundreds of babies every month and thousands every year.

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