South Carolina And The Opposition To Abortion Prohibitions In The United States

Illustration. (mcoswalt / Unsplash)

JAKARTA - The Governor of the State of South Carolina officially signed the Act prohibiting all types of abortion in the state, Thursday, February 18 local time.

McMaster, a Republican politician, said signing the abortion ban into law was his priority. He could not cover his happiness with the passing of this prohibition.

"There are many happy hearts fluttering in South Carolina right now," he said shortly before the signing of the Act as reported by Reuters.

As one of the strictest abortion prohibitions, the Act prohibits abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detected. Generally at six weeks of gestation, often a woman is not even aware of her pregnancy at that time.

Meanwhile, in general in the United States the abortion ban has a gestational age threshold of 24 weeks. However, South Carolina law still allows abortion in some circumstances, including rape, incest, or if the mother's life is in danger.

"Our battle is not over. But, I believe the dawn of victory is upon us," said McMaster.

Illustration. (kellysikkema / Unsplash)

Abortion is one of the most divisive problems in the United States. The pro abortion camp says it is women's privacy and is related to health issues. Meanwhile, the counter-abortion group says this is not morally religious.

Meanwhile, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the constitution protected the right of pregnant women to have an abortion in 1973. A number of states are known to have issued restrictions on abortion such as that of South Carolina. However, most of them are still "hanging" in court (due to cancellation demands).

For example, like in the State of Iowa. Has a law similar to that of South Carolina which was passed in 2018 ago. The law was overturned by a state judge in 2019 or a year later.

"There is no doubt that such cardiac activity can be detected well before the fetus becomes viable," wrote Iowa District Court Judge Michael Huppert in his then-decision.

Recently passed, this law immediately brought a lawsuit from the community group engaged in the women's health sector, Planned Parenthood South Atlantic to federal court.

"The ban is unconstitutional, citing previous success (remedy) against similar bills in other states," Planned Parenthood South Atlantic said in a statement.

"This ban blatantly defies the nearly 50 year precedent of the Supreme Court protecting a person's right to terminate a pregnancy," Center for Reproductive Rights president Nancy Northup said in a statement.

United States President Joe Biden is known to have signed an executive order at the end of January regarding the lifting of a ban on federal funding to international aid groups related to abortion, resulting in the removal of the ban on abortion.

On the same occasion, Biden also took the United States out of the Geneva Consensus 2020, a non-binding collective agreement of more than 30 countries that oppose abortion.