South Carolina abortion law challenge backed by 20 states

South Carolina abortion law challenge backed by 20 states

SeattlePI.com

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Twenty Democratic attorneys general have voiced their support for a lawsuit challenging South Carolina's new abortion law, arguing that the restrictive measure could harm their states by taxing resources if women cross borders to seek care.

“The effects of the law are not confined to limits on particular procedures in a single state: history shows that people will cross state lines to receive proper care,” Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring, on behalf of the prosecutors, wrote in an amicus brief filed Wednesday with the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

“As a result, South Carolina’s restrictive abortion laws will cause many of its citizens to seek abortion care in Amici States — potentially straining their healthcare systems.”

Signed into law by Republican Gov. Henry McMaster shortly after its passage earlier this year, the measure requires doctors to perform ultrasounds to check for a so-called “fetal heartbeat,” which can typically be detected about six weeks into pregnancy. If cardiac activity is detected, the abortion can only be performed if the pregnancy was caused by rape or incest, or if the mother’s life is in danger.

Medical experts say the cardiac activity is not an actual heartbeat but rather an initial flutter of electric activity within cells in an embryo. They say the heart doesn’t begin to form until the fetus it is at least nine weeks old, and they decry efforts to promote abortion bans by relying on medical inaccuracies.

Planned Parenthood attorneys sued immediately after McMaster signed the bill, and the entire law has been blocked from going into effect pending the outcome of a challenge to Mississippi's new abortion law before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Earlier this month, the high court allowed a Texas law prohibiting abortions once medical...

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