COLUMBIA — The state Supreme Court has thrown out South Carolina’s law banning abortion at roughly six weeks into pregnancy, stunning the Legislature’s GOP leaders just days ahead of the 2023 Statehouse session.
In a 3-2 split decision Jan. 5, justices ruled that privacy rights included in the state constitution do extend to a woman’s right to an abortion.
While the Legislature has the authority to set limitations on “that utmost personal and private” decision in order to protect “unborn life,” Justice Kaye Hearn wrote in the lead opinion, women must be allowed sufficient time to know they’re pregnant and decide whether to end it.
“Six weeks is, quite simply, not a reasonable period of time for these two things to occur, and therefore the act…
