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CV NEWS FEED // Planned Parenthood South Atlantic’s third legal attempt to challenge South Carolina’s 2023 pro-life heartbeat law has reached the state’s Supreme Court, which will hear oral arguments for the case Feb. 12.
Gov. Henry McMaster signed the Fetal Heartbeat and Protection from Abortion Act into law in May 2023. Abortion is prohibited once a fetal heartbeat is detected, except in cases of medical emergencies, rape, incest, or if the unborn child is diagnosed with a “fatal fetal anomaly.”
The court will hear arguments for the case, Planned Parenthood South Atlantic v. South Carolina, at 10:30 a.m. EST. The pro-abortion giant is disputing the scientific consensus of when a fetal heartbeat is detected, according to a Feb. 10 Susan B. Anthony (SBA) Pro-life America press release. Planned Parenthood is arguing that the unborn child’s heartbeat starts at nine weeks gestation, rather than six.
Planned Parenthood and co-plaintiffs have argued in the suit that at approximately six weeks gestation there is a detectable “flicker within the embryo,” but such a “flicker” is not cardiac activity.
“The flicker is cardiac cells, or cardiomyocytes, which have special characteristics that promote the conduction and contraction of the cell tissue. This electrical impulse is detectable before the development of any of the four major components of a heart,” the plaintiffs argued, according to a Feb. 11 ABC News 4 report. According to ABC, the plaintiffs are asking the court to allow abortions up to nine weeks gestation instead of six.
SBA Pro-Life America Regional Political Director Caitlin Connors expressed confidence that the judges will see through Planned Parenthood’s tactics.
“Planned Parenthood’s attempt to rewrite the science of human development to further their agenda for more abortions and more profit will not prevail,” Connors said in the release. “The level of science denial from the abortion lobby should astound South Carolinians who overwhelmingly re-elected Gov. Henry McMaster and state Republicans after they enacted the heartbeat law.”
Connors asserted confidence that the Court “will see through Planned Parenthood’s charade” and rule in favor of the law that saves almost 5,000 lives a year.
Planned Parenthood has previously challenged the state’s 2023 pro-life law and failed. In May 2024, Fifth Circuit Judge Daniel Coble denied Planned Parenthood’s motion for a preliminary injunction that would have required the state to enforce the heartbeat law at nine weeks gestation, rather than at six.
Similarly, in August 2023, the court ruled 4-1 in favor of the state’s heartbeat law, which Planned Parenthood South Atlantic and co-plaintiffs had challenged by seeking a declaration that the law was “unconstitutional.” The majority opinion penned by Justice John Kittredge declared that it was constitutional.
