SOUTH CAROLINA: Challenge by Abortion Provider and Patient to State’s Abortion Ban Receives First Hearing

PLANNED PARENTHOOD SOUTH ATLANTIC
PLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION OF AMERICA

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 2, 2024

CONTACT: Julia Walker at [email protected]

Challenge by Abortion Provider and Patient to State’s Abortion Ban Receives First Hearing

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Today, a Richland County circuit court heard arguments in a legal challenge to South Carolina’s early abortion ban brought by abortion providers and a woman who was denied an abortion in her home state. The lawsuit seeks to clarify the current uncertainty in when the law applies based on its definition of “fetal heartbeat,” which has left abortion providers with no choice but to assume that the ban applies after approximately six weeks of pregnancy—before most people even know they are pregnant.  

Since the South Carolina Supreme Court’s August 2023 ruling, the vast majority of South Carolinians seeking abortions have been forced to travel out of state for care, and those who have been unable to travel have been forced to carry their pregnancies to term or seek care outside the medical system. One of the suit’s plaintiffs, Taylor Shelton, is a South Carolina resident who was forced to flee the state to access essential health care after the ban took effect.

Planned Parenthood South Atlantic and Ms. Shelton assert that an accurate interpretation of the ban is that it applies at nine weeks of pregnancy instead of six, and today asked the court to block the law as it applies to pregnancies prior to nine weeks of pregnancy while the case proceeds. The harm that the law is causing is grave and ongoing - roughly 75% of people seeking abortions in South Carolina are being turned away currently; 86% of those people have pregnancies that are under nine weeks.

Statement from Taylor Shelton, named plaintiff:

“I joined this lawsuit because of the difficult experience I had getting an abortion in my home state of South Carolina. When I found out I was pregnant just weeks after South Carolina’s early abortion ban took effect, I had no idea how hard it would be to get the care I needed despite being under six weeks pregnant. What should’ve been a simple, safe, and straightforward procedure close to home instead stretched into a multi-week ordeal, and I was ultimately forced to seek care in North Carolina.

I knew I was making the right decision for myself and for my future, but all of the barriers and conflicting information I had to fight to overcome left me feeling ashamed and traumatized. I joined this lawsuit because I want to speak up not only for myself, but for the thousands of other women like me. More importantly, I want to draw attention to the women who, unlike me, don’t have the support or resources they need to cross state lines to get the health care they need. South Carolinians deserve better.”

Statement from Jenny Black, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood South Atlantic:

“It’s high time that the courts put an end to the chaos and confusion that this abortion ban’s ambiguities have created for patients like Taylor and for health care providers across the state. Until then, South Carolinians will continue to suffer in a state with dangerously high rates of maternal and infant mortality and be forced to travel hundreds—sometimes thousands—of miles for care, seek care outside the medical system, or remain pregnant against their will.

Unfortunately, this problem is not unique to South Carolina. Across the nation, anti-abortion legislators are enacting sweeping bans with vague language and theoretical exceptions, leaving health care providers in the difficult position of trying to care for their patients all while staying within the bounds of these convoluted laws. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic will continue to do everything in our power to defend abortion access for our patients in South Carolina. We will not stop fighting until every person has the power to control their own bodies, lives, and futures.”

The plaintiffs in the case are Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, Dr. Katherine Farris, and Taylor Shelton. They are represented by Planned Parenthood Federation of America and the South Carolina law firm Burnette Shutt & McDaniel.

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Planned Parenthood South Atlantic (PPSAT) is a nonprofit health care provider offering a wide range of affordable and reliable reproductive and sexual health care services in 14 locations across North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia. PPSAT provides abortion services in North Carolina (Asheville, Charlotte, Winston-Salem, Chapel Hill, Fayetteville, and Wilmington), South Carolina (Columbia and Charleston), and Virginia (Roanoke and Charlottesville).