South Carolina renews abortion ban around 6 weeks of pregnancy, setting up legal fight

By JAMES POLLARD
Associated Press/Report for America

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina’s governor has signed a bill banning most abortions around six weeks of pregnancy, setting up an anticipated legal challenge from providers. The law signed Thursday goes into effect immediately. It restores the ban South Carolina had in place when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year. The ban was overturned by the state’s highest court as a violation of the state constitution’s right to privacy. That decision had left abortion legal through 22 weeks of pregnancy, making South Carolina one of the last places with relatively looser abortion restrictions in the Southeastern United States.