Map Shows States With Strictest Abortion Laws After SC Supreme Court Ruling
Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content.
South Carolina's Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the state's six-week abortion ban, making it among the states with the strictest abortion laws.
Why It Matters
Conservative states like South Carolina moved to ban most abortions after the United States Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the landmark case that for decades guaranteed reproductive rights across the country regardless of one's state.
Tens of millions of women live in states where abortion is banned or heavily restricted, about three years after the ruling. Voters in states like Kansas have upheld reproductive rights in ballot measures, but legal battles to restore abortion rights in some states have been less successful.
What To Know
South Carolina's highest court on Wednesday handed down its ruling in the case Planned Parenthood v. South Carolina, which dealt with the question of when a fetal heartbeat begins. The court sided with the state, which argued the heartbeat begins about six weeks into a pregnancy.
Attorneys representing Planned Parenthood argued this only occurs when all four chambers of the heart have been formed, about nine weeks into a pregnancy.
Abortion rights protesters demonstrate at the U.S. Supreme Court on April 2, 2025.
Abortion rights protesters demonstrate at the U.S. Supreme Court on April 2, 2025."Based on our interpretation of the statutory definition of 'fetal heartbeat,' we hold the 2023 Act bans abortion—unless an exception applies—when electrical impulses are first detectable as a 'sound' with diagnostic medical technology such as a transvaginal ultrasound device and the medical professional observes those electrical impulses as a 'steady and repetitive rhythmic contraction of the fetal heart' during any stage of the heart's development 'within the gestational sac,'" the ruling reads.
This means that abortion will remain illegal in South Carolina after six weeks, with some exceptions for rape and incest through 12 weeks, as well as when the life or physical health of the mother is at risk.
Six other states restrict abortion between 6 and 12 weeks of pregnancy, according to data from the Guttmacher Institute. Those states still allow some exceptions after the ban kicks in.
Meanwhile, abortion remains illegal in most cases in 12 states, which offer varying exceptions.
What People Are Saying
South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster, a Republican, wrote in a statement: "Time and time again, we have defended the right to life in South Carolina, and time and time again, we have prevailed. Today's ruling is another clear and decisive victory that will ensure the lives of countless unborn children remain protected and that South Carolina continues to lead the charge in defending the sanctity of life."
Paige Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, wrote in a statement: "Justice did not prevail today, and the people of South Carolina are paying the price. People have been forced to carry pregnancies against their will, suffered life-threatening infections, and died as a direct result of this abortion ban. The cruel politics of South Carolina lawmakers are harming families and destroying a health care system as more and more providers flee the state. But we will never back down, and neither should you. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic will continue to do everything in our power to ensure patients receive the care they need and fight for their ability to control their own bodies, lives, and futures."
What Happens Next
Abortion rights remain a key legislative issue for many states. In Texas, lawmakers are considering a bill that would crack down on abortion pills, reported The Texas Tribune. In Louisiana, Attorney General Liz Murrill, a Republican, is investigating a New York doctor accused of sending abortion pills into the state.
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