SC Supreme Court Ruling of the Fetal Heartbeat Act
South Carolina’s Supreme Court overturned the state’s Fetal Heartbeat Act.
On Jan. 5, 2023, the court ruled this act unconstitutional due to violation of a woman’s right to privacy. This decision moved the ability for women to get an abortion from six-weeks back to the original 20-weeks. This Act went into effect when Roe V. Wade was overturned back in June 2022; however, it was signed into law in 2021 by Gov. Henry McMaster (Fox News).
Justice Kaye Hearn said, "We hold that the decision to terminate a pregnancy rests upon the utmost personal and private considerations imaginable and implicates a woman’s right to privacy.”
Hearn continued and stated that while this right is not absolute, this act is an unreasonable restriction upon a woman’s right to privacy and is therefore unconstitutional.
