The ink from South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster’s pen was barely dry after he signed the state’s new abortion when Planned Parenthood filed suit in federal court.
The new law effectively bans all abortions after the point when a fetal heartbeat is usually detectable. The heartbeat of a human embryo can usually be detected by ultrasound between the fifth and sixth weeks of pregnancy.
McMaster made getting the bill on his desk a priority for his administration, and supporters crowded around the governor as he signed it into law.
“There’s a lot of happy hearts beating across South Carolina right now,” McMaster said at the signing ceremony.
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The law did not make the abortion provider Planned Parenthood happy. The organization responded immediately with a lawsuit that effectively prevents the law from being enforced.
South Carolina lawmakers knew when they passed the bill that there would be a court challenge. Currently, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi and Ohio all have similar laws to the one in South Carolina, and all of them are tied up in court challenges.
For many pro-life activists, the various lawsuits are not a set-back but rather a stepping-stone on the path to the Supreme Court where they hope the now-majority conservative court will revisit and possibly overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that made abortion a matter for states to decide.
Susan Swanson, who has been the director of Augusta Care Pregnancy Center in Augusta for 38 years, is cautiously optimistic at seeing states move towards a plan to take the matter to the Supreme Court and hopes to see legislation in the future that would define an unborn baby as a person. She says she is pleased with the younger generations’ approach to finally revisiting Roe v. Wade.
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“The younger generations are becoming more and more pro-life,” she says. “They are beginning to realize that abortion clinics don’t just murder babies, they do incredible harm to women.”
Planned Parenthood President and CEO Alexis McGill Johnson said in a statement that she sees the South Carolina abortion ban as “politics at its worst.”
She voted that “Planned Parenthood will continue doing what these elected officials refuse to do: ensure every person has access to basic health care, including abortion, if and when they need it. No matter what.”
Jenny Black, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood South Atlantic said the abortion ban is an indication that South Carolina politicians do not care about quality of life for women and children.
“Abortion bans disproportionately hurt those that already have the least access to quality health care, including people with low incomes, people of color, people who are LGBTQ, and those who live in rural areas,” Black said. “If this law is allowed to go into effect, it will pose a serious threat to South Carolinians’ health and livelihood.”
Scott Hudson is the Editorial Page Editor of The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com
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