The South Carolina Supreme Court rejected an effort from Planned Parenthood to water down the state’s pro-life heartbeat law, ruling on Wednesday that the state could enforce its protections for unborn babies at around six weeks of development.
In its decision, the court ruled against Planned Parenthood’s claim that the law could only protect babies at around nine weeks of development, claiming that was when a baby’s heartbeat can first be detected. The court said that the legislature had intended to protect unborn babies at around six weeks, when heart activity can first be detected, ruling against the abortion giant.
“While we do not frame our holding today in the shorthand terms of a number of weeks, the biologically identifiable moment in time we hold is the ‘fetal heartbeat’ under the 2023 Act occurs in most instances at approximately six weeks of pregnancy,” the…
