Latest news with #FetalHeartbeatProtectionfromAbortionAct
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
South Carolina Supreme Court upholds ‘fetal heartbeat' abortion ban
South Carolina's Supreme Court upheld the state's 'fetal heartbeat' law in a Wednesday ruling. Justices ruled the state can continue to ban abortion starting at six weeks of gestation, when the current law states a 'fetal heartbeat' can begin to be detected. Abortions in the state have been banned as soon as a health care provider can detect 'cardiac activity, or the steady and repetitive rhythmic contraction of the fetal heart, within the gestational sac,' under a 2023 law called the Fetal Heartbeat Protection from Abortion Act. Many other states, including Texas, Oklahoma and Idaho, have passed similar 'heartbeat' abortion bans, with some Republican-led states doing so after the 2022 overturning of Roe v. Wade. The law states that such cardiac activity occurs at around six weeks after conception, but Planned Parenthood challenged the law's merit in court, arguing that it uses an alternative definition of when the fetal heart forms and when a heartbeat starts. They argue that this type of 'cardiac activity does not occur until all four chambers of the heart have formed' and that a 'heartbeat' ban should start at around nine or 10 weeks after conception. Justices noted in their ruling that the definition of a 'fetal heartbeat' in the 2023 law is ambiguous and does not convey a 'clear, definite meaning.' 'Not one of the terms the General Assembly used in the definition-not 'cardiac activity' nor 'steady,' 'repetitive,' 'rhythmic,' 'contraction,' 'fetal heart,' nor even 'gestational sac,'-is a precise medically defined term,' they wrote. Health care workers disagree on the precise meaning of these words, they added, which forced them to 'turn to rules of statutory construction and other evidence of what the General Assembly intended.' Associate Justice John Few wrote in the ruling that the language of the 2023 law was identical to a 2021 version of the law, which was understood to mean a six-week abortion ban. Because lawmakers understood the law to mean abortions should be banned in the state at six weeks, that is how lawmakers should interpret the 2023 act. 'We count at least sixty separate instances during the 2023 legislative session in which a member of the House or Senate referred to the 2023 Act as a six-week ban on abortion, many of which specifically referenced the Court's analysis of the 2021 Act,' he wrote. 'We could find not one instance during the entire 2023 legislative session in which anyone connected in any way to the General Assembly framed the Act as banning abortion after approximately nine weeks.' Anti-abortion groups called the Supreme Court's decision a victory. 'Planned Parenthood has failed in attempting to rewrite the science of human development to further their agenda for more abortions and more profit,' said Caitlin Connors, political director of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America. As did South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster (R). 'Time and time again, we have defended the right to life in South Carolina, and time and time again, we have prevailed,' the governor wrote in a statement. '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.' Meanwhile, Planned Parenthood vowed to continue to challenge the law until South Carolinians can receive abortion care. 'Justice did not prevail today, and the people of South Carolina are paying the price,' said Paige Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, in a statement. '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 feel the state. But we will never back down, and neither should you.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Hill
14-05-2025
- Health
- The Hill
South Carolina Supreme Court upholds ‘fetal heartbeat' abortion ban
South Carolina's Supreme Court upheld the state's 'fetal heartbeat' law in a Wednesday ruling. Justices ruled the state can continue to ban abortion starting at six weeks of gestation, when the current law states a 'fetal heartbeat' can begin to be detected. Abortions in the state have been banned as soon as a health care provider can detect 'cardiac activity, or the steady and repetitive rhythmic contraction of the fetal heart, within the gestational sac,' under a 2023 law called the Fetal Heartbeat Protection from Abortion Act. Many other states, including Texas, Oklahoma and Idaho, have passed similar 'heartbeat' abortion bans, with some Republican-led states doing so after the 2022 overturning of Roe v. Wade. The law states that such cardiac activity occurs at around six weeks after conception, but Planned Parenthood challenged the law's merit in court, arguing that it uses an alternative definition of when the fetal heart forms and when a heartbeat starts. They argue that this type of 'cardiac activity does not occur until all four chambers of the heart have formed' and that a 'heartbeat' ban should start at around nine or 10 weeks after conception. Justices noted in their ruling that the definition of a 'fetal heartbeat' in the 2023 law is ambiguous and does not convey a 'clear, definite meaning.' 'Not one of the terms the General Assembly used in the definition-not 'cardiac activity' nor 'steady,' 'repetitive,' 'rhythmic,' 'contraction,' 'fetal heart,' nor even 'gestational sac,'-is a precise medically defined term,' they wrote. Health care workers disagree on the precise meaning of these words, they added, which forced them to 'turn to rules of statutory construction and other evidence of what the General Assembly intended.' Associate Justice John Few wrote in the ruling that the language of the 2023 law was identical to a 2021 version of the law, which was understood to mean a six-week abortion ban. Because lawmakers understood the law to mean abortions should be banned in the state at six weeks, that is how lawmakers should interpret the 2023 act. 'We count at least sixty separate instances during the 2023 legislative session in which a member of the House or Senate referred to the 2023 Act as a six-week ban on abortion, many of which specifically referenced the Court's analysis of the 2021 Act,' he wrote. 'We could find not one instance during the entire 2023 legislative session in which anyone connected in any way to the General Assembly framed the Act as banning abortion after approximately nine weeks.' Anti-abortion groups called the Supreme Court's decision a victory. 'Planned Parenthood has failed in attempting to rewrite the science of human development to further their agenda for more abortions and more profit,' said Caitlin Connors, political director of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America. As did South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster (R). 'Time and time again, we have defended the right to life in South Carolina, and time and time again, we have prevailed,' the governor wrote in a statement. '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.' Meanwhile, Planned Parenthood vowed to continue to challenge the law until South Carolinians can receive abortion care. 'Justice did not prevail today, and the people of South Carolina are paying the price,' said Paige Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, in a statement. '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 feel the state. But we will never back down, and neither should you.'
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
State Supreme Court rules in latest abortion ban lawsuit
(WSPA) – The South Carolina Supreme Court upheld on Wednesday a lower courts ruling clarifying when a fetal heartbeat can be detected and how it applies to the state's ban on abortions after six weeks. The supreme court upheld a previous decision which said fetal heartbeat activity can be detected at six weeks of pregnancy. State law says after a heartbeat is detectable, abortion is no longer an option. South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster, who signed the six week abortion ban in 2023, applauded the supreme court's decision. '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.' Gov. Henry McMaster Jace Woodrum, executive director of the ACLU of South Carolina also commented on the decision. 'The extreme ban on most abortions is endangering the lives of pregnant South Carolinians and driving medical care providers away from our state. Many people do not find out they are pregnant until after the six-week cutoff that is now being imposed under South Carolina law, and the list of exceptions is so narrow that doctors are struggling to provide life-saving reproductive care for fear of criminal prosecution.' 'Until South Carolina ends its pattern of blatant gerrymandering, a loud and regressive minority will continue to steer our politics via primary elections, resulting in continued erosion of our reproductive freedom.' Jace Woodrum, executive director of the ACLU of South Carolina Wednesday's decision is the latest in a long string of lawsuits by Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers to combat abortion bans enacted by the state legislature. In 2021, the South Carolina General Assembly passed the Fetal Heartbeat Protection from Abortion Act, which would ban abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. At the time it was passed the law was considered unconstitutional due to the longstanding precedent established in Roe v Wade. When the Supreme Court issued a decision in Dobbs v Jackson Women's Health Organization which overturned Roe v Wade, the 2021 act became state law, and Planned Parenthood sued the state, arguing the law violated patients' constitutional right to privacy. The state supreme court ultimately ruled in favor of Planned Parenthood, prompting state lawmakers to revise the 2021 law, but using the same definition of 'fetal heartbeat' they used in the original law. Planned Parenthood sued again and a circuit court ruled the law was still unconstitutional, but in a 2023 decision the state supreme court reversed that decision. At the time of that decision the court did not choose to address the meaning of what fetal heartbeat activity means. Wednesday's decision ends another suit which aimed to clarify when fetal heartbeat activity can be detected in a pregnancy. Planned Parenthood argued heartbeat activity is not detectable until nine weeks of pregnancy, the state maintains it is detectable after six weeks. A circuit court and the supreme court both sided with the state in the case. This is a developing story, we will update it as more information becomes available. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
