South Carolina Supreme Court Kills Heartbeat Law Declares New State Right to Abortion

The South Carolina Supreme Court Ruled by a minimal 3-2 majority that the state’s constitutional protection of the right to privacy includes a right to kill children before birth.

Writing for the majority, Justice Kaye Hearn said, “We hold that the decision to terminate a pregnancy rests upon the utmost personal and private considerations imaginable, and implicates a woman’s right to privacy. While this right is not absolute and must be balanced against the State’s interest in protecting unborn life, this Act, which severely limits — and in many instances completely forecloses — abortion, is an unreasonable restriction upon a woman’s right to privacy, and is therefore unconstitutional.”

The abortion industry immediately celebrated the victory on social media.

South Carolina‘s Supreme Court Judges are appointed by the legislature, but the process is controlled by the leadership of the legislature.

According to the South Carolina Policy Council, the process is the selection process in the following convoluted manner: the speaker of the House, the chairman of the Senate judiciary committee, and the president pro tempore of the Senate appoint all ten members of the Judicial Merit Selection Commission, the body that nominates judges for ultimate legislative approval. By law, six of the ten must be lawmakers: the House speaker appoints five, the president pro tempore appoints two, and the Senate judiciary chairman appoints three.

South Carolina does not have recall elections and the last time a judicial reform bill was introduced in the legislature, the leadership did not allow it to come up for a vote.

The state legislature will begin its 2023 term next week on Tuesday.