South Carolina Supreme Court hears challenge to state's six-week abortion ban

The South Carolina Supreme Court heard arguments on Tuesday over the Palmetto state's second six-week abortion ban after it previously struck down comparable legislation in January.

State lawmakers endorsed the current six-week ban in May, providing exceptions for rape, incest, fatal fetal abnormalities, or threats to the woman's life or health up to twelve weeks. The legislature was confident the revisions they made to the prior ban would help it to survive judicial scrutiny.

The court in January ruled 3-2 against the original ban's lawfulness under the state constitution, saying "[w]e hold that the decision to terminate a pregnancy rests upon the utmost personal and private considerations imaginable, and implicates a woman's right to privacy."

"While this right is not absolute, and must be balanced against the State's interest in protecting unborn life, 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 Hearn.

Notably, Hearn has since retired and the change in court composition has emboldened anti-abortion advocates.

Planned Parenthood South Atlantic has challenged the ban, securing a judicial stay shortly after the law's passage.

When drafting the legislation, however, Republicans did so with a mind toward assuaging concerns from Justice John Few, a possible swing vote in the case, The Hill reported. The new bill changed the definition of a clinically diagnosable pregnancy, removed an assertation that the law provides women an "informed choice" on the matter, and clarified that the law would not affect the legality of contraceptives.

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on Twitter.