South Carolina Supreme Court Overrules Abortion Ban

tive on ballot proposal 3, the Reproductive Freedom for All amendment, which invalidated the 1931 law and closed Whitmer’s lawsuit.

On June 24, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade , the landmark court case that made the right to privacy—and abortion—a federally protected right, with the 5-4 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization . In the post- Roe environment, abortion access will vary by state based on state legislatures.

In a number of states, trigger laws went into effect following Dobbs , curtailing abortion access across the country. Trigger laws are policies passed by a legislative body but don’t go into effect until a certain event occurs, such as a Supreme Court decision, to make them enforceable. Other states like Michigan had old statutes in place that pre-dated Roe and threatened abortion access. However, they were deemed ineffective under Roe . Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer filed a lawsuit against the state’s 1931 abortion ban, winning a preliminary injunction thereby protecting the right to abortion. In November, Michigan voters voted in the affirma -

Nearly two years ago in 2021, Governor of South Carolina Henry McMaster (R) signed a law that banned abortions after 6 weeks, except in cases of pregnancies by rape and incest or when the mother’s life is in danger. Ruling against the ban and in favor of the right to privacy, which is expressly stated in South Carolina’s constitution unlike the U.S. Constitution, the state Supreme Court noted that the law must provide sufficient time to determine if one is pregnant and what steps to take.

Justice Kaye Hearn asserted that “six weeks is, quite simply, not a reasonable time period.”

The South Carolina ban was suspended by federal courts after being signed by the Governor in 2021, then briefly allowed to take hold after the Dobbs court decision until the state Supreme Court took up the case in August. Currently, abortion in South Carolina is barred 20 weeks after fertilization, but Republicans, including McMaster, have said they are pressing forward with new restrictions against abortion access.

Here in North Carolina, abortion is banned after 20 weeks. In 2022, Governor Roy Cooper (D) issued an executive order to protect those seeking or providing abortions in the state, including people who live outside of North Carolina, from other states’ laws. While Republicans have called for greater restrictions to abortion access, Cooper maintains the veto power over the Republican majority in both chambers of the North Carolina General Assembly. Democrats in Raleigh have introduced a bill that would codify the ruling of Roe v. Wade into state law; however, passing this bill is unlikely given how close Republicans are to having supermajorities that could override Cooper’s veto.

Abortion pills have become a focal point over the issue of abortion access, including in North Carolina, and this method accounts for over half of all abortions in the country now. On January 25, an OB/GYN filed a lawsuit against North Carolina regulations that go beyond what the FDA requires. The same day, drugmaker GenBioPro filed a lawsuit against the state of West Virginia, claiming that it is unconstitutional to ban the use of abortion pills deemed safe by the FDA since 2000. This is the first of many state lawsuits over the sale of abortion pills, challenging how much power the U.S. Constitution grants the federal government over states, in a battle likely to end up in the U.S. Supreme Court.

Across the country, advocates for abortion rights have been fighting against efforts to ban and restrict access to abortion. In the 2022 elections, in every state that voted on the question of abortion, abortion access was supported. On January 20, the March for Life hosted its annual anti-abortion rally in Washington, D.C., acting as a kind of celebration for the group. Two days later, the Women’s March hosted its annual rally, which started in 2017; with the question of abortion being at the state level now, over 200 events were held in 46 states.