South Carolina Senate approves protection for unborn after six weeks

South Carolina’s “heartbeat” bill is headed to Republican Gov. Henry McMaster’s desk after the Senate voted Tuesday evening to pass the legislation, which protects unborn babies after six weeks of pregnancy. South Carolina state law currently protects unborn babies after 22 weeks of pregnancy. The South Carolina House approved the bill last Wednesday. The bill protects unborn babies conceived in rape or incest after 12 weeks of pregnancy and allows exceptions for the mother’s life and fetal anomalies.

Is this bill going to make its way into law? McMaster is expected to sign the bill. The legislation restores a similar law protecting the unborn that the state’s highest court struck down in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson decision. The South Carolina Supreme Court said the previous law was unconstitutional because it violated individuals’ privacy.

Dig deeper: Read Leah Savas’s report in Vitals about the battle to protect unborn babies in South Carolina.