COLUMBIA, S.C. — In a unanimous decision the South Carolina Supreme Court has temporarily blocked the state’s six-week abortion ban.
The six-page order was signed Aug. 17 by all five sitting justices.
The order means that for the time being as litigation continues the state’s abortion clinics can proceed with abortion procedures up until 20 weeks, which was state law prior to the Legislature passing the six-week ban.
“Although we temporarily enjoin the enforcement of the Act, we nevertheless recognize the plenary authority of the legislature to legislate and make public policy decisions, subject only to constraints imposed by the United States Constitution and the South Carolina Constitution,” the justices wrote.
The unanimous decision Wednesday by the South Carolina Supreme Court comes as the Legislature considers a more restrictive abortion ban after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
“We applaud the court’s decision to protect the people of South Carolina from this cruel law that interferes with a person’s private medical decision,” Jenny Black, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, said in a statement Wednesday.
“For more than six weeks, patients have been forced to travel hundreds of miles for an abortion or suffer the life-altering consequences of forced pregnancy. Today the court has granted our patients a welcome reprieve, but the fight to restore bodily autonomy to the people of South Carolina is far from over.”
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