South Carolina Supreme Court takes up state's abortion ban

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Over 18 months of legal back and forth will come to a head Wednesday in a case that could determine the scope of abortion restrictions in South Carolina.

The South Carolina Supreme Court will hear arguments over whether the state constitution prohibits a 2021 ban on abortions after cardiac activity is detected, typically around six weeks, with exceptions for pregnancies caused by rape or incest or endangering a mother's life.

The arguments come a day after the South Carolina Senate again rejected a proposal to ban nearly all abortions in the state. A conference committee was established to work out the differences between the House and Senate bills.

The lawsuit — brought by Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, Greenville Women’s Clinic and abortion providers — is the latest challenge since Republican Gov. Henry McMaster signed the restrictions into law in February 2021.

Planned Parenthood South Atlantic almost immediately sued. The effort proved successful when a U.S. District Court judge suspended the law on its second day in effect and a federal appeals court upheld that ruling about a year later.

But the restrictions took effect shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court in June overturned Roe v. Wade.

After that ruling, abortion providers turned to the South Carolina constitution’s rights to privacy and equal protection in their effort to protect access. In August, the state’s high court temporarily blocked the ban as the justices weighed the new lawsuit. Abortion is currently banned at 20 weeks in South Carolina.

The South Carolina legislature in 1974 codified the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Roe v. Wade. A “conflict in the law” arose when lawmakers retained that language in the 2021 ban, the justices on the state's highest court wrote in the...