Governor of South Carolina on Thursday signed a law banning most abortions, one of his priorities since taking office more than four years ago. Planned parenthood immediately continued, effectively preventing the measure from taking effect.
South Carolina’s “Fetal Heart Rate and Abortion Protection Act” is similar to abortion restriction laws that a dozen states have already passed. All are attached to the tribunal. Federal law, which takes precedence over state law, currently permits abortion.
“There are a lot of happy hearts beating in South Carolina right now,” Republican Governor Henry McMaster proclaimed in a ceremony at the Statehouse attended by lawmakers who made the bill a reality.
Immediately after signing the bill, a group of lawmakers and members of the public, standing side by side and wearing masks to protect themselves from the coronavirus, began to sing the words “Praise God” to the tune of “Amazing Grace”.
The House passed its bill by 79 to 35 on Wednesday after hours of emotional testimony from supporters and opponents, and gave final approval to the measure on Thursday. Moments after the second vote on Thursday, Planned Parenthood announced it was filing a lawsuit. The “South Carolina Fetal Heart Rate and Abortion Protection Act,” like other similar laws currently under dispute, is “patently unconstitutional,” said Jenny Black, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood South Atlantic .
Supporters of restrictive abortion laws try to fix the problem before the Supreme Court of the United States in the hope that – with three judges appointed by Former Republican President Trump – the court could cancel Roe vs. Wade, the 1973 decision upholding the right to abortion. The Supreme Court has already ruled that abortion is legal until a fetus is viable outside the womb – months after a heartbeat can be detected, Black noted.
State bills to restrict or ban abortion “are just plain nonsense,” Black said. “There is no other way around this.”
South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson released a statement Thursday saying his office “will vigorously defend this law in court because there is nothing more important than protecting life.”
Lawmakers who backed the bill celebrated their long-awaited victory on Thursday.
“We’re about to do what I’ve been trying to do for 25 years: shut down the abortion industry in South Carolina,” said Republican Senator Larry Grooms.
The Planned Parenthood lawsuit argues that South Carolina’s new law “is in flagrant violation of nearly five decades of Supreme Court precedent.” The lawsuit says a high rate of women, especially African Americans, die during or immediately after childbirth in South Carolina. The abortion ban would fall harder on low-income women, who would not be able to travel to a neighboring state where abortion is still permitted, according to the lawsuit.
Black said the focus on abortion wastes taxpayer dollars and ignores a host of other important issues such as health care, unequal treatment of women, and education, Black said.
“If lawmakers are genuinely interested in improving lives, we have a long list of priorities they can focus on,” Black said.
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The South Carolina bill requires doctors to perform ultrasound scans to check the heartbeat of the fetus. If there is one, abortion can only be performed if the pregnancy was caused by grated or the incest or the mother’s life is in danger.
The measure would not punish a pregnant woman for having had an illegal abortion, but the person who performed the abortion could be charged with a felony, sentenced to a sentence of up to two years and a fine of 10,000. $ if found guilty.
