South Carolina on cusp of having tougher abortion law

A compromise approved Tuesday by the Senate allows exceptions to the ban only if the mother's life is in jeopardy or the fetus can't survive outside the womb.

Abortion opponents have also passed laws requiring clinics to get admitting privileges for doctors and banning a procedure commonly used in the second trimester, known as an evacuation method.

Delleney, one of the South Carolina Legislature's staunchest abortion foes, expects the GOP-led House to give final approval and send the bill to Gov. Nikki Haley's desk in the coming weeks.

Opponents believe the laws are unconstitutional but challenging them is impractical, since abortion clinics typically don't provide late-term abortions and women don't want to go through the trauma.

Under the U.S. Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling establishing a nationwide right to abortion, states were permitted to restrict abortions after viability — the point when the fetus has a reasonable chance of surviving under normal conditions outside the uterus.