A South Carolina judge on Friday temporarily blocked the state’s new law banning most abortions at around six weeks.
The order, which comes just one day after governor Henry McMaster signed the legislation into law, prevents the new restrictions from taking effect until the state Supreme Court can review a lawsuit brought by several abortion providers in the state.
“The status quo should be maintained until the Supreme Court reviews its decision,” Judge Clifton Newman said. “It’s going to end up there.”
Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, Greenville Women’s Clinic and two physicians filed a legal challenge to the law on Thursday moments after it went into effect. The plaintiffs argued the law is similar to a 2021 law that the state Supreme Court previously struck down and that the new law would therefore harm women seeking abortions if it were to remain in effect pending a full court review.
In January, the state Supreme Court issued a 3-2 ruling against the 2021 law after finding that while lawmakers have the authority to protect life, that a privacy clause in the state constitution gives women time to determine if they want to have an abortion and that six weeks does not allow enough time for most women to know they are pregnant.
“This Act, which severely limits—and in many instances completely forecloses—abortion, is an unreasonable restriction upon a woman’s right to privacy and is therefore unconstitutional,” wrote Justice Kaye Gorenflo Hearn for the majority.
However, state lawmakers argue the new law includes changes that should win approval by at least one more state Supreme Court justice. The author of the ruling on the 2021 law has since retired.
Under the new law, doctors who provide abortions could face felony charges carrying up to two years in prison and a $10,000 fine. The law includes exceptions for fatal fetal anomalies, the patient’s life and health, and rape or incest up to 12 weeks.
Newman’s order means abortion currently remains legal up until around 20 weeks in the state.