South Carolina’s high court weighs details of heartbeat law
The South Carolina Supreme Court Associated Press / Photo by James Pollard, file
![South Carolina’s high court weighs details of heartbeat law](https://www4.wng.org/_1500x937_crop_center-center_82_line/2731180/South-Carolina-02-12-2025.jpg)
The state’s Supreme Court heard oral arguments Wednesday about when exactly an unborn baby develops a heartbeat. South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster in May 2023 signed a law protecting unborn babies from abortion once they had a detectable heartbeat. The law made exceptions for cases of rape, incest, and deadly fetal anomalies.
State authorities have understood the law to mean that abortionists can’t kill an unborn baby after about six weeks of pregnancy. But Planned Parenthood has argued the ban should take effect at around nine to 10 weeks of pregnancy. Planned Parenthood previously lost a case challenging the constitutionality of the heartbeat law before the state Supreme Court.
Isn’t the U.S. Supreme Court hearing a case between South Carolina and Planned Parenthood? The country’s top court is set to hear arguments about whether states can withhold taxpayer funds from Planned Parenthood. On Tuesday, 18 states submitted friend-of-the-court briefs supporting South Carolina’s arguments for why the state should be able to move its funds away from abortion providers, according to the Alliance Defending Freedom.
Dig deeper: Read Lauren Canterberry’s report in The Sift about how the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear the case about taxpayer funds and Planned Parenthood.
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