A South Carolina court has upheld the state’s “heartbeat” law, rejecting a challenge from Planned Parenthood. The organization had requested to extend the legal cutoff for abortions from six weeks to nine weeks, arguing that a baby’s heart is fully formed at nine weeks. However, advocates of the heartbeat law contended that the human heart begins to beat at six weeks.
Richland County Judge Daniel Cobles made the decision stating that the General Assembly clearly intended for the time frame of the law to begin around the six-week mark. Governor Henry McMaster, who signed the law in 2023, praised the court’s ruling.
Planned Parenthood, which performs a significant number of abortions in the U.S., has seen a 20% increase in the number of abortions performed in the last decade. Despite this legal setback, the organization continues to provide abortion services.
