STATEHOUSE REPORT | ISSUE 22.34 | Aug. 25, 2023
BIG STORY: All-male S.C. Supreme Court reverses key abortion decision
LOWCOUNTRY, Ariail: Forever chemicals
COMMENTARY, Brack: Haley did what she needed (mostly) at GOP debate
SPOTLIGHT: S.C. Farm Bureau
MYSTERY PHOTO: Needs painting
FEEDBACK: Send us your thoughts
All-male S.C. Supreme Court reverses key abortion decision
By Lily Levin | South Carolina’s Supreme Court — the only all-male state Supreme Court in the nation — on Wednesday upheld a six-week abortion ban in a 4-1 ruling. It reversed a January decision by the high court to strike down a similar ban passed in 2021.
So what changed? The make-up of the court. In February, Justice Kaye Hearn, the only woman on the high court, retired following the January ruling. A conservative state judge, Gary Hill, replaced her on the court in the spring. He voted this week to reverse the decision.
Earlier this year, the court voted 3-2 that a six-week abortion ban from 2021 was unconstitutional because it violated the right to privacy enshrouded in the state constitution. But in this week’s majority opinion on the measure passed this year by the General Assembly, Justice John Kittredge wrote, “To be sure, the 2023 Act infringes on a woman’s right of privacy and bodily autonomy…..We think it is important to reiterate: we are constrained by the express language in the South Carolina Constitution that prohibits only ‘unreasonable invasions of privacy.””
The court argued, essentially, that the legislature makes policy decisions, while the judicial branch declares them constitutionally reasonable. Thus, even though the law does infringe on a woman’s essential rights, it does not violate any constitutional provision because it is not, by their definition, unreasonable.
S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster, a longtime proponent of an abortion ban, was overjoyed.
“With this victory, we protect the lives of countless unborn children and reaffirm South Carolina’s place as one of the most pro-life states in America,” he said in a statement.
But a leader of Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, one of the plaintiffs that challenged the legislature’s 6-week ban, called the new ruling “exceedingly dangerous and cynical.”
“Today’s decision puts the dangerous politicization of South Carolina’s highest court on full display and will cause irreparable harm to the people of South Carolina,” said Jenny Black, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood South Atlantic.
Impact of the decision
The 2023 law holds that at around six weeks of pregnancy, “cardiac activity” is present, which is defined by the legislature as “the steady and repetitive rhythmic contraction of the fetal heart, within the gestational sac.” But according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, this activity does not scientifically constitute a heartbeat.
Furthermore, at six weeks, many women do not know that they are pregnant. A variety of other factors influence menstruation, including exercise and birth control. The majority opinion of today’s court decision said “specifically, the legislature explained it had placed weight on the fact that a woman could learn of her pregnancy within seven to fourteen days of conception and would have several weeks after that to make her decision and have an abortion if she so chose.”
Catherine Humphreville, an attorney for Planned Parenthood, said the language was factually incorrect. “That’s not how and when at-home pregnancies work.”
Molly Rivera, communications director of Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, added that it’s pretty common knowledge — at least among those who can get pregnant or know someone who’s gone through a period.
Another abortion misconception is based on a 2022 report by the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC), which states 47.9% of women sought an abortion at six weeks or less. DHEC uses the date of postfertilization, while this bill—and all medical providers— considers the date of conception, which is actually two weeks earlier. “
What DHEC says is six weeks should actually be eight weeks,” said Planned Parenthood’s Vicki Ringer.
“Chaos and confusion”
There are only three clinics in South Carolina that provide abortions—Planned Parenthood in Columbia, Charleston, and Greenville, Rivera said. Following today’s ruling, two had to turn the vast majority of patients away, according to PPSA’s chief medical officer, Katherine Farris. Only the clinic in Charleston did not have any patients on the schedule today who were seeking abortions. Farris added her colleagues in hospitals across the state also had to turn patients away.
Right now, clinics are waiting for clarity from the court. The ban, Humphreville said, “is already causing chaos and confusion.”
The new ban makes limited exceptions for survivors of rape and incest. They Can seek an abortion only under the following criteria: that they be under 12 weeks pregnant and they consent to reporting their assault to law enforcement.
Both criteria are extremely limiting, observers say. A 12-week ban on abortion still leads to dangerous health outcomes, according to a comprehensive 2023 report conducted by researchers at the University of San Francisco.
The latter regulation—collaboration with law enforcement — means that survivors have to “undergo the trauma of having this assault shared to another party,” Farris said.
What now?
South Carolina has been meticulously chipping away at abortion protections for years. Telehealth is banned for abortion consultations in both Carolinas, which means that a doctor can’t meet with a patient online to prescribe an abortion pill that they can pick up at their pharmacy, Rivera said.
The only useful thing to come out of this ruling, Rivera continued, is that people now cannot be criminally prosecuted for self-aborting, an action that they take on their own bodies. South Carolina was previously one of the only two states in the country that criminalized self-conducted abortions.
In a dissenting Wednesday opinion, Chief Justice Donald Beatty wrote: “The result will essentially force an untold number of affected women to give birth without their consent.”
And when someone is forced through pregnancy, the consequences can be incalculable. South Carolina’s 2023 Infant Mortality Report, released annually by DHEC’s Bureau of Maternal and Child Health, shows a drastic increase in South Carolina’s infant mortality rate since 2017, especially among non-Hispanic Black mothers. As it turns out, protecting the “unborn” doesn’t actually protect the unborn after they’re out of their mother’s womb: South Carolina’s abortion ban will only increase the infant mortality rate, Ringer said.
What to do if you’re seeking an abortion
Today’s ruling is clouded in confusion—for the providers, the patients and even the justices, who left the meaning of ‘fetal heartbeat’ in their decision “for another day.”
However, here’s what providers do know: if you’re seeking an abortion after the 6-week marker, you can choose to travel to another state with greater protections of bodily autonomy. Maryland and Illinois, for example, are the least restrictive of the states closest to South Carolina.
- Previous coverage: How abortion works in South Carolina
Abortion advocates immediately planned a Statehouse protest at 5 p.m. Aug. 23.
According to Ringer, the future is all about who is representing the people of this state. “Until we change the players, the plays in South Carolina are going to remain the same. We aren’t going to have legislators who wake up and suddenly decide they’re going to listen. We’ve got a lot of fight left in us,” Ringer added.
Lily Levin is a reporter with the Charleston City Paper, where an earlier version of this story first appeared. Have a comment? Send to: feedback@charlestoncitypaper.com
Forever chemicals
Award-winning cartoonist Robert Ariail generally has a biting or funny comment about the great state of South Carolina in his weekly cartoon. This week, he takes on the issue of so-called “forever chemicals” in the state’s waterways. Love the cartoon? Hate it? What do you think: feedback@statehousereport.com.
Haley did what she needed (mostly) at GOP debate
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | South Carolina’s former governor, Nikki Haley, mostly did what she needed to do during Wednesday night’s GOP presidential debate to be taken more seriously as a real 2024 contender. U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, also of the Palmetto State, didn’t. He fizzled under the lights of the MIlwaukee stage.
While former President Donald Trump remains the frontrunner of the Republican contest, he is facing 91 charges in four indictments and this week became the first ex-president to have a jail mug shot. As his absence loomed during the first 2024 debate, the eight candidates on the debate stage seemed mostly like unpolished political pawns in a long chess game for which they aren’t ready.
While Scott looked mostly like a deer in the headlights and offered lightweight responses, other candidates campaigning for the GOP nod didn’t do much to help themselves. Businessman Vivek Ramaswamy seemed little more than a Trump preener on the stage as a national advertisement for teeth whiteners.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis looked and sounded like a robot or some kind of cartoon politician, energized only by the spotlight of a question. Former Vice President Mike Pence came out firing and offered some very un-Christian put-downs, but seemed less asleep than usual. Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie landed a couple of good put-downs, but didn’t offer much to distinguish himself. And the two other guys on the stage – why were they there?
So it was Haley who seemed to make the best use of her time, several columnists for The New York Times agreed. She had a pretty good performance, noted liberal columnist Jamelle Bouie, because she “didn’t seem to be running for the Republican nomination as much as she was casting herself as a choice for the general election next November.” Conservative columnist David French remarked, “All of it warmed my old-school Reagan conservative heart. If there’s any life left in the old G.O.P., Haley gave it hope.”
The newspaper’s David Brooks argued the day after the debate that it’s time to give Haley a chance because she showed mettle, courage and substance during the debate on issues involving foreign policy, fiscal responsibility and abortion.
She “dismantled” Ramaswamy, Brooks wrote, and “took on the whole America First ethos that sounds good as a one-liner but that doesn’t work when you’re governing a superpower. Gesturing to Ramaswamy, Haley said, ‘He wants to hand Ukraine to Russia, he wants to let China eat Taiwan, he wants to go and stop funding Israel. You don’t do that to friends.’” She also spanked the GOP for being part of the nation’s problem with profligate spending and pointed out Trump boosted the national debt by $8 trillion – nothing to be proud about.
Brooks said Haley also was more serious about abortion by acknowledging the complexity of the issue and trying to “”humanize people caught in horrible situations, who acknowledged that the absolutist position is politically unsustainable.”
This is where we’ll depart from Brooks because the always ambitious Haley pandered with self-righteous sanctimony when she tried to bash and pigeon-hole Democrats on abortion. She demanded they say whether they approve of abortion up to 40 weeks, the time for human gestation. (Reality: An overwhelming majority of Americans, including Democrats, want abortion available as a reproductive health option for about half that time – 20 weeks or so – as suggested in the Roe v. Wade decision that the conservative U.S. Supreme Court overturned in 2022, stirring up an election’s nest of trouble.)
As governor, Haley signed a 20-week abortion ban. And she’s realistic that a 15-week federal ban supported by the men on the debate stage will be tough to ever pass in Congress. But to suggest that Democrats want to abort fetuses at any time during gestation is just politics as usual. It’s unpresidential and irresponsible.
Andy Brack, editor and publisher of the Charleston City Paper and Statehouse Report, last week was named first-place winner for political columns in the 2023 national contest by the Association of Alternative Newsmedia. Have a comment? Send to: feedback@statehousereport.com.
S.C. Farm Bureau
Statehouse Report is provided for free to thousands of subscribers thanks to the generosity of our underwriters. Today we shine a spotlight on our newest underwriter, S.C. Farm Bureau. It is a grassroots, non-profit organization that celebrates and supports family farmers, locally-grown food and rural lands through legislative advocacy, education and community outreach.
S.C. Farm Bureau’s alliance of nearly 100,000 members includes everyone from foodies and fishermen to lawyers, restaurateurs, entrepreneurs, community leaders, and of course, farmers. By connecting farmers to the larger community, the organization cultivates understanding about agriculture’s importance to our local economies. The S.C. Farm Bureau explains its mission: “We deepen our collective knowledge of who, where and how food grows. We empower people to make informed choices. We grow mutually-beneficial relationships. And, we ensure the future of the family farms, locally-grown food and the rural South Carolina lands we love.”
- To learn more about S.C. Farm Bureau’s programs, click here.
- To view media and publications, click here
- For policy and legislation, click here.
Needs painting
Here’s an old wooden building that some would say needs a good coat of paint. Where is it and what is it? Send us your guess of what this photo shows – as well as your name and hometown – to feedback@statehousereport.com.
Last week’s “What in the world?” is an eyesore of a 5G communications tower along the Septima P. Clark Parkway in downtown Charleston. The Charleston City Paper calls it the “Toilet Roll Pole.”
Several readers got it correct: John Hart, Elizabeth Jones and Jay Altman, all of Columbia; Randy Herald of Lexington; George Graf of Palmyra, Va.; Allan Peel of San Antonio, Texas; Bill Segars and Don Clark, both of Hartsville; Pat Keadle of Wagener; Frank Bouknight of Summerville; and Vicki McLain of Chesterfield.
>> Send us a mystery picture. If you have a photo that you believe will stump readers, send it along (but make sure to tell us what it is because it may stump us too!) Send to: feedback@statehousereport.com and mark it as a photo submission. Thanks.
Send us your thoughts
We encourage you to send in your thoughts about policy and politics impacting South Carolina. We’ve gotten some letters in the last few weeks – some positive, others nasty. We print non-defamatory comments, but unless you provide your contact information – name and hometown, plus a phone number used only by us for verification – we can’t publish your thoughts.
- Have a comment? Send your letters or comments to: feedback@statehousereport.com. Make sure to provide your contact details (name, hometown and phone number for verification. Letters are limited to 150 words.
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I spent my summers in Bamberg around the corner from Nikki Haley growing up. I was very proud of her performance at the debate and continue to remind Republicans that if Trump falters, Nikki Haley will be our nominee. She has defied the odds many times before. I was driving by Bamberg recently and noticed they took all references to Bamberg being the hometown of Nikki Haley down. Poor choice for an all democrat town council of a town that does not have much to be proud of. Talk about politics gone bad!