COLUMBIA, S.C. — The South Carolina Supreme Court on Thursday struck down the state’s six-week abortion ban, ruling it violated the state’s constitutional right to privacy.
In a 3-2 vote, the state’s high court wrote, in part, “We hold that our state constitutional right to privacy extends to a woman’s decision to have an abortion.” In the majority were Supreme Court Chief Justice Donald Beatty, Justice John Few and Justice Kaye Hearn, the lone woman on the Supreme Court, who will retire this year.
The abortion ban, signed into law in 2021, had been temporarily suspended as the South Carolina Supreme Court mulled its constitutionality. It means the state’s previous ban at about 20 weeks stays in place for now.
