Judge blocks South Carolina abortion ban so state high court can review
Planned Parenthood South Atlantic and a South Carolina clinic immediately filed a lawsuit to block the ban once it became law.
Friday’s injunction means abortion access in South Carolina reverts back to being legal up to about 20 weeks after fertilization.
“The status quo should be maintained until the Supreme Court reviews its decision,” Newman said, according to the Associated Press. “It’s going to end up there.”
Planned Parenthood called the injunction a “welcome reprieve.”
“While we have a long fight ahead, we will not stop until our patients are again free to make their own decisions about their bodies and futures,” Jenny Black, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, said in a statement.
Shortly after news of the injunction, McMaster vowed in a statement to continue fighting for the law and said he hopes the Supreme Court “will take this matter up without delay.”
In a Thursday news release, McMaster said the state was “ready to defend this legislation against any challenges and are confident we will succeed.”
“The right to life must be preserved, and we will do everything we can to protect it.”
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The law, which the Republican-led South Carolina Senate passed by a vote of 27-19 on Tuesday, includes exceptions for the patient’s life and health, and for fatal fetal anomalies. It also permits abortion at up to 12 weeks in the case of rape or incest. Doctors who violate it would lose their license and face potential civil lawsuits, felony charges, a fine of up to $10,000 and two years in jail.
The state’s high court blocked a similar law last summer, after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the constitutional protections for abortion in 2022.
Molly Hennessy-Fiske and Rachel Roubein contributed to this developing story, which will be updated.