A South Carolina woman, Taylor Shelton, teamed up with Planned Parenthood South Atlantic (PPSAT) to sue the state on Monday after she was denied an abortion at around six weeks of pregnancy. The focus of the suit is the alleged ambiguous wording of Senate Bill 474 (SB 474), also named the Fetal Heartbeat and Protection from Abortion Act.
The plaintiffs aim to acquire a preliminary injunction and declaratory relief on the issue of when exactly SB 474 determines that a fetal heartbeat starts in an embryo. They argue for a shift in the “fetal heartbeat” standard away from what could be interpreted as six weeks, to when the cardiac chambers are fully formed, which according to medical consensus, is nine weeks. Currently, SB 474 describes fetal heartbeat as “cardiac activity” connotating “the steady and repetitive rhythmic contraction of the fetal heart.” Doctors, with the support of Planned Parenthood, seek this relief to:
assuage provider confusion and safeguard the ability of PPSAT- and their physicians including Dr. Farris and staff- to provide medical care consistent with their medical judgment and protect their patients’ health and well being and to protect South Carolinians, including Ms. Shelton, to access abortion at the earliest stage of pregnancy.
The complaint also notes that some women “may go six to eight weeks, or even longer without experiencing a menstrual period.” In these cases, a woman may not be aware she is even pregnant before seeking medical attention.
Since becoming law, South Carolina’s six-week abortion ban has faced multiple legal challenges, following the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022. Soon after Roe was overturned, the South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster signed SB 474 into law. While a state court temporarily blocked the law, the South Carolina Supreme Court later upheld it.