Leading abortion providers, alongside Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, two physicians, and Greenville Women’s Clinic have filed a petition imploring the Supreme Court of South Carolina to reassess its decision to support a rigorous state law that prohibits abortions past six weeks of gestation. This plea was filed following a day after the court reached a verdict deeming the Fetal Heartbeat and Protection from Abortion Act to be in line with the constitution.
The appellants voiced their concerns as they felt that the court did not adequately define what constitutes a “fetal heartbeat” in their recent verdict. In their plea, they emphasized the need to employ the principle of plain meaning to understand the clause that entails “the steady and repetitive rhythmic contraction of the fetal heart”. They made an appeal for the court to further clarify the ambiguities surrounding the term based on the medical definition of the term.
Furthermore, they invoked the rule of lenity, arguing that since the penal statutes entail severe consequences including the deprivation of an individual’s liberty, any ambiguity should be interpreted to the petitioner’s advantage. The petitioners have deemed the lack of a clear definition leaves abortion providers in a challenging position.
Their follow-up legal suit from May employed statutory interpretation arguments, as opposed to constitutional ones, and was launched after Governor Henry McMaster of South Carolina signed the bill. In addition to seeking clarification on the terminologies used in the legislation, the petitioners are requesting the court to instate an emergency temporary restraining order (TRO) while the language employed in the legal provision is reviewed.