South Carolina Supreme Court rules state’s six week abortion ban unconstitutional

COLUMBIA, SC (WOLO)– The South Carolina Supreme Court today ruled the state’s 6 week abortion ban is unconstitutional.

The Court saying in its opinion that the state has the authority to limit the right of privacy that protects women but that limitation must be reasonable.

The court wrote in the conclusion: ‘Six weeks is, quite simply, not a reasonable period of time for these two things to occur, and therefore the Act violates our state Constitution’s prohibition against unreasonable invasions of privacy.’

CONCLUSION: Per South Carolina State Supreme Court 1-5 opinion

‘We hold that our state constitutional right to privacy extends to a woman’s
decision to have an abortion. The State unquestionably has the authority to limit the
right of privacy that protects women from state interference with her decision, but
any such limitation must be reasonable and it must be meaningful in that the time
frames imposed must afford a woman sufficient time to determine she is pregnant
and to take reasonable steps to terminate that pregnancy. Six weeks is, quite simply,
not a reasonable period of time for these two things to occur, and therefore the Act
violates our state Constitution’s prohibition against unreasonable invasions of
privacy.’

South Carolina House Speaker Murrell Smith (R) reacted to the decision in a series of Tweets: http://@schousespeaker

“The U.S. Supreme Court, through their Dobbs decision this summer, handed the issue of abortion back to state legislatures. Unfortunately, the South Carolina Supreme Court followed the path of the U.S. Supreme Court in Roe v. Wade by creating a constitutional right to an abortion where none exists. Todays decision fails to respect the concept of separation of powers and strips the people of this state from having a say in a decision that was meant to reflect their voices. Instead, South Carolina is left with a decision that is not reflective of our state’s political process or will.”