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COLUMBIA, S.C. (WCBD)- Saturday marks one year since the U.S. Supreme Court issued its ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, ending nearly a half-century of a nationwide right to abortion.
The Dobbs decision overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling which protected the right to an abortion until fetal viability, which is generally around 24 weeks of pregnancy.
In the year that has passed, many Republican-controlled state legislatures have attempted to enact restrictive abortion policies, including in South Carolina.
Here is where things stand in the Palmetto State:
In May, South Carolina became the latest state in the South to enact a near-total abortion ban as Gov. Henry McMaster signed a bill banning most abortions after cardiac activity is detected, around six weeks of pregnancy. That is typically before most women know they are pregnant.
“This is a great day for life in South Carolina, but the fight is not over. We stand ready to defend this legislation against any challenges and are confident we will succeed,” Republican South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster said in a statement.
South Carolina House lawmakers passed the controversial legislation on May 17 after days of debate and nearly 1,000 amendments filed by Democrats. It was later sent to the state Senate, where it also passed, despite a filibuster led by the Senate’s only five women.
But, abortion providers quickly filed a lawsuit seeking to block the law that resembles one the South Carolina Supreme Court struck down earlier this year. In that ruling, the court determined that the restrictions violate the state constitution’s right to privacy.
One of those providers, Planned Parenthood, argued South Carolina’s abortion clinics were flooded with canceled appointments from patients further along in their pregnancies and doctors were forced to carefully review the new regulations on the fly.
“It’s extraordinarily difficult not only for the women themselves but for their doctors — not just the doctors at Planned Parenthood — but hospitals all across the state who need to understand what to do in an emergency,” said Vicki Ringer, a spokesperson for Planned Parenthood in South Carolina.
About 24 hours after the “Fetal Heartbeat” bill was signed by Gov. McMaster, a judge placed the new law on hold until the state Supreme Court can review the measure.
“The status quo should be maintained until the Supreme Court reviews its decision,” Judge Clifton Newman said. “It’s going to end up there.”
South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson appealed that decision to the Supreme Court asking for the court to supersede the injunction issued by the lower court. The SC Supreme Court denied the motion for supersedeas but agreed to hear arguments on the matter on June 27.
The law includes some specific changes lawmakers said were designed to pass muster with the court. In addition, January’s 3-2 decision to block the six-week ban was written by the court’s only female justice, who retired shortly after the ruling when she reached mandatory retirement age.
The legislature replaced her with a man, who has the support of the state’s ultra-conservative Freedom Caucus.
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“We are, in South Carolina, the only state that has an all-male court,” State Sen. Margie Bright Matthews (D-Colleton) said during a Friday press conference. “I don’t think the public really understands the significance of this.”
Abortion currently remains legal in South Carolina before about 21 weeks of pregnancy.
As the abortion fight plays out in South Carolina’s legal system, the Republican-led legislature’s efforts to further restrict the procedure have drawn sharp criticism from the Left.
In a press conference on the eve of the Dobbs anniversary, South Carolina Democrats renewed their promise to “use every tool in the toolbox” to stop “attacks” on women’s healthcare.
“It [Dobbs] opened the floodgates to allow MAGA Republicans in South Carolina and across the country to rip away reproductive health care,” South Carolina Democratic Party Chair Christale Spain said. “We didn’t get here by accident. This is the direct result of a decades-long attack by Republicans who stacked the courts with right-wing judges so they could open the door to banning abortion nationwide.”
On the national stage, Republicans from South Carolina have bolstered the idea that the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade did not go far enough, calling for federal limits on abortion.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) introduced a bill last September that would ban abortions nationwide after 15 weeks of pregnancy, except in cases of rape, incest, or risk to the health of the mother.
“Some Republicans say abortion’s a states’ rights issue,” Graham said during a recent visit to Mount Pleasant. “I reject that. Abortion is a human rights issue. I think there’s a role in protecting the unborn in Washington.”
Tim Scott, South Carolina’s other senator and GOP candidate for president, has praised his home state’s six-week ban and backs Graham’s proposed 15-week federal prohibition. Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, also running for president, supports a national ban but has not said at which point in pregnancy she would seek to ban abortions.
How do South Carolinians feel about the six-week abortion ban?
The abortion debate has long been a contentious issue in South Carolina politics, dividing the public along ideological and religious lines.
Despite a Conservative victory in the legislature, Democrats insist a majority of South Carolinians do not support the measure. That assertion has been echoed in recent statewide polling.
A May 2023 poll conducted by Winthrop University found that about one-third (37%) of South Carolinians support a ban on most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy while 43% oppose it. The polling showed a sharp partisan divide, with over half of Republicans favoring the ban while just over a quarter of Democrats favored the ban.
In addition, a majority of South Carolinians said abortion should be legal in some circumstances. 81% believe a woman should be able to obtain a legal abortion if the pregnancy threatens the woman’s life and health and 78% believe abortion should be legal if the pregnancy is the result of rape, according to the data.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
