Palmetto State News

So far, 20 Republican-led states have joined together to back South Carolina's heartbeat abortion law as it faces legal challenge that worked its way to the U.S. Supreme Court. 

The heartbeat bill, while popular among many Republican lawmakers and supporters, has received stiff opposition from Democrats and pro-choice advocates. 

The law regulated South Carolina abortion providers in the case of a detectable fetal heartbeat. With a few exceptions, abortions would be criminalized in the case that an ultrasound detected the baby’s heartbeat. The exceptions are rape, incest or fetal abnormality. 

Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and West Virginia have supported South Carolina in a lawsuit filed against them by Planned Parenthood abortion clinics in the state. Alabama led the charge.

“South Carolina’s fetal heartbeat law was struck down in an error-filled district court opinion," Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said. "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. The district court tread on South Carolina’s sovereign ability to decide for itself the purposes of its legislation, completely ignoring the General Assembly’s clear intent, written in the text of the law, that if any part of the law were held unconstitutional then the remainder would not be invalidated.”

Marshall continued his argument by highlighting the fact that other states that have similar laws.

“At least 24 states require an abortion provider to offer to display the image from an ultrasound so the pregnant mother can view it,” he continued. “Yet the district court enjoined South Carolina’s ultrasound disclosure law. Same for South Carolina’s requirement that abortion providers make the fetal heartbeat audible for the pregnant mother if she would like to hear it – a law that at least 16 other states have also enacted. And same for South Carolina’s requirement that an ultrasound be performed before an abortion is conducted – a requirement shared by at least 12 other states.”