Palmetto State News

Gov. Henry McMaster has filed a brief with the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals challenging a lower court’s ruling preventing the implementation of a heartbeat bill in the state banning abortions after the sixth week of pregnancy.

The law requires testing for a detectable heartbeat before an abortion can be performed, and it bans the procedure of a heartbeat is detected, which can occur as early as six weeks into a pregnancy. 

McMaster signed the bill into law on Feb. 18, and the National Review reported that it immediately came under fire from Planned Parenthood, which filed a temporary restraining order the next day effectively blocking the law. 

National Review noted that the appeal claims that Planned Parenthood lacks third-party and statutory standing. 

“While the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to hear the case related to Mississippi’s law offers great hope and promise for protecting the lives of the unborn, we must defend South Carolina’s Fetal Heartbeat Act against every challenge at every level,” McMaster said in an office press release. 

McMaster's press release also detailed that the federal district court issued the temporary injunction March 19, setting the wheels in motion for McMaster’s appeal, which was filed April 2 with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. 

Following that appeal, attorneys general of 20 states have filed amicus briefs in support of South Carolina’s appeal, according to the Greenville News.

"South Carolina’s fetal heartbeat law was struck down in an error-filled district court opinion,” Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said in a press release, the News reported. “Although Planned Parenthood and the other plaintiffs challenged only the law’s regulation of abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detected, the district court enjoined the law in its entirety — including portions of the law that dozens of other states already have and regularly enforce."

An opening brief was filed July 7 by McMaster and other defendants, according to the governor’s news release, as pro-life supporters gird to defend heartbeat bills in a number of states. 

According to Fox 28 Savannah, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear a case to determine whether a state can ban abortions before a fetus is viable. A law passed in Mississippi is at the center of that case, according to Fox 28. 

“As I’ve said before, the right to life is the most precious of rights and the most fragile. We must never let it be taken for granted or taken away,” McMaster continued in his release. “And we must protect life at every opportunity, regardless of cost or inconvenience.”

The new South Carolina law would require a doctor to perform an ultrasound examination to determine whether a heartbeat can be detected. If a heartbeat is detected, a doctor can only perform an abortion in cases of incest, rape or a medical emergency that endangers the mother’s life, according to the law. 

The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control reported that 5,101 abortions were performed in the state in 2019, up from 4,646 in 2018. 

In 2019, just five abortions were performed after the 20th week of pregnancy, according to SCDHEC. Of those, three were medical emergencies and two were fetal anomalies, according to the report. 

In its data, the SCDHEC breaks down abortions by maternal age. 

In 2019, 10 abortions were performed on women younger than 15, according to the report, which also indicates that 499 abortions were performed on women from 15 to 19.