{"id":296998,"date":"2023-08-23T14:20:37","date_gmt":"2023-08-23T19:20:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=296998"},"modified":"2023-08-23T14:15:45","modified_gmt":"2023-08-23T19:15:45","slug":"south-carolina-supreme-court-six-week-protections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/south-carolina-supreme-court-six-week-protections\/","title":{"rendered":"South Carolina Supreme Court upholds six week pro-life protections"},"content":{"rendered":"
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South Carolina’s Supreme Court upheld<\/a> the state’s law protecting preborn children from abortion beginning at six weeks in a 4-1 decision on Wednesday. The law will take effect immediately.<\/p>\n

Senate Bill 474<\/a>, the “Fetal Heartbeat and Protection from Abortion Act,” prohibits abortion once a preborn child’s heartbeat can be detected. The heart first begins to beat at about 16-21 days post-fertilization but can not typically be detected by ultrasound until the preborn child is a six-week embryo. The law includes exceptions for the life or health of the mother, medical emergencies, and fatal fetal diagnosis, and allows babies to be killed by abortion up to 12 weeks of pregnancy if they were conceived in rape or incest. Induced abortion is never medically necessary<\/a> because a baby never has to be intentionally killed<\/em> prior to delivery in order to end a pregnancy. Preterm delivery for health reasons and medical emergencies, as well as surgery for ectopic pregnancies, are not legally considered abortions.<\/p>\n

Justice John Kittredge, writing for the majority, said<\/a> that the pro-life law “infringes on a woman’s right of privacy and bodily autonomy,” but said that “virtually every law operates in some manner to limit a person’s privacy.” He also wrote that the woman’s right to privacy does not outweigh “the interest of the unborn child to live.”<\/p>\n