South Carolina Supreme Court Again Upholds Heartbeat Law Saving Babies From Abortions

The South Carolina Supreme Court has refused a rehearing on its prior decision upholding the state’s heartbeat law that protect babies from abortions.

As LifeNews reported August 23, the state’s highest court upheld the new law protecting babies from abortion. The South Carolina Supreme Court issued a ruling today upholding South Carolina’s heartbeat law that protect babies from abortion who have a detectable heartbeat.

South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster signed the heartbeat law earlier this year, but abortion activists quickly took the pro-life measure to court.

The 4-1 ruling comes after new Justice Gary Hill joined the state’s high court.

The majority ruled that women do have a right to bodily autonomy and privacy but that those rights do not outweigh “the interest of the unborn child to live.”

Planned Parenthood, another abortion business and two abortionists requested a rehearing in the case claiming that the term “fetal heartbeat” is ambiguous even though science clearly shows unborn babies have a heartbeat that starts earlier and is discernable around 6 weeks.

In another 4-1 split, justices denied their request for a rehearing.

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“The court is unable to discover that any material fact or principle of law has been either overlooked or disregarded,” read the majority opinion signed Aug. 29.

But Chief Justice Don Beatty not only disagree with the majority but encouraged abortion businesses to try another lawsuit.

“Nothing prevents respondents from expeditiously filing a new complaint” challenging the constitutionality of the law as applied, Beatty wrote.

Attorney General Alan Wilson applauded the refusal, saying it confirms the right to privacy in the state constitution does not apply to killing babies in abortions.

“The right to life is foremost and absolutely must be protected and prioritized,” Wilson said in a release. “I believe this decision will have a long-lasting positive impact on the future of our state, and I’m honored our office was able to fight for the unborn and defend the rule of law.”

In the original ruling last week, Justice John Kittredge penned the majority opinion.

He wrote, “The legislature has made a policy determination that, at a certain point in the pregnancy, a woman’s interest in autonomy and privacy does not outweigh the interest of the unborn child to live. As a Court, unless we can say that the balance struck by the legislature was unreasonable as a matter of law, we must uphold the Act.”

“[T]he legislature has found that the State has a compelling interest in protecting the lives of unborn children. That finding is indisputable and one we must respect,” it added.

The ban is not specifically a 6-week ban. The majority opinion clearly states, “The 2023 Act generally prohibits an abortion after the detection of a fetal heartbeat, not at a specific period of weeks into the pregnancy.”

In a statement sent out Wednesday morning, Governor Henry McMaster celebrated the ruling.

“The Supreme Court’s ruling marks a historic moment in our state’s history and is the culmination of years of hard work and determination by so many in our state to ensure that the sanctity of life is protected. With this victory, we protect the lives of countless unborn children and reaffirm South Carolina’s place as one of the most pro-life states in America,” he said.

Attorney General Alan Wilson said he is pleased with the court’s decision. “I am grateful for our office’s role in defending the law.” He said the law will take effect immediately.

Lisa Van Riper, President of South Carolina Citizens for Life, said “This decision today restores protection for all human beings with a detectable heartbeat. By upholding the Heartbeat Act, the majority of the South Carolina Supreme Court has affirmed that the General Assembly and Governor McMaster acted within their power to carry out their most basic governmental responsibilities of protecting a human being’s right to life.”

Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Denise Harle also praised the ruling in an email to LifeNews.

“All human life is worth protecting, and the people of South Carolina have been eager to affirm life and prevent the obvious harms that abortion causes women and their children. Now, with this decision from the South Carolina Supreme Court, the state can affirm that life is a human right, just as they should following the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs. We commend the South Carolina Legislature and Gov. McMaster for enacting a pro-life law that relies on sound medical science and statistical evidence, which shows that a detectable fetal heartbeat reliably and overwhelmingly predicts a healthy live birth. The state’s high court was right to uphold this law, which is critical for protecting mothers and their unborn babies.”

The decision is a dramatic reversal of the court’s previous 3-2 ruling in January that found an earlier Fetal Heartbeat law violated the South Carolina Constitution’s “right to privacy provision.” The retirement of one justice and the election of a new justice changed the vote, and one justice, John Few, who voted against the first heartbeat law, voted in favor of the new law.

Judge Clifton Newman of the Circuit Court of South Carolina previously issued the injunction pending a decision from the South Carolina Supreme Court about the bill. Now the law will be fully enforced to protect babies from abortions.

Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey noted that while there is no “right to privacy” in the U.S. Constitution, the South Carolina Constitution has an explicit right to privacy, but he said emphatically, it has “absolutely nothing to do with abortion.” The amendment was added to the state constitution in the early 1970s before the lethal 1973 Roe v. Wade U.S. Supreme decision that was overturned on June 24, 2022. The South Carolina privacy clause was intended to protect individuals from government overreach into private bank records, phone records, and other privacy issues unrelated to abortion.

The new South Carolina law could save hundreds of unborn babies’ lives every month and stop most out-of-state abortion traffic currently flooding into South Carolina.

In January, the South Carolina Supreme Court struck down the 2021 law by a 3-2 vote that concluded the 2021 heartbeat law violated the South Carolina Constitution’s right to privacy clause. Three factors have changed since that decision. The U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe on June 24, 2024. The make-up of the South Carolina Supreme Court has changed with the retirement of a pro-abortion justice. The new Fetal Heartbeat law (S474) was written to address the issue raised by the South Carolina Supreme Court about the 2021 law.

McMaster signed the bill into law in a ceremony where he was joined by members of the General Assembly and members of the pro-life community to sign S. 474, the Fetal Heartbeat and Protection from Abortion Act, into law.

In February, DHEC reported that 504 South Carolina residents received an abortion, compared to 482 visitors, according to Massey. And in March, 525 S.C. residents and 433 visitors received abortions.

“The abortion landscape has changed considerably even from our last debate on the issue just last month,” Massey, R-Edgefield, said, referring to the upper chamber’s vote in April to reject a near-total abortion ban. “South Carolina has become the abortion capital of the southeast, and there’s really no other way to say that.”

The pro-life bill includes exceptions for rape and incest no more than 12 weeks, fatal fetal anomaly and the mother’s life. Under House modifications, the bill includes several new requirements, such as requiring child support to start at conception and allowing a judge to decide if a minor can have an abortion should a parent or guardian be unavailable.

According to the State Department of Health and Environmental Control, there currently are 1,000 abortions per month occurring in the Palmetto State largely because of out-of-state abortion traffic. That means the law would save hundreds of babies every month and thousands every year.

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