In a unanimous order, the five judges who sit on the South Carolina Supreme Court put a hold on the state’s new law banning abortions after six weeks’ gestation, saying it would hear a lawsuit being brought by Planned Parenthood about the suspect constitutionality of the law, Reuters reports.
While the judges did not issue an opinion on the argument or the constitutionality of the law, the fact that the judges unanimously voted to stop the enforcement of the law signals they all believe the argument is sound. In announcing the hold, the judges released a letter saying they find the ban could conflict with the state’s constitution.
The issue comes because the government of South Carolina codified Roe v. Wade into state law in 1974, thereby ensuring a person’s right to an abortion. The new law, passed in 2021 to go into effect if Roe v. Wade was overturned, did not revoke the 1974 law. While Republicans in 2021 might have tried to pass a law revoking the 1974 law, they might reconsider trying the same stunt given the overwhelming support for abortion rights even in conservative states, as a recent referendum in Kansas supporting reproductive rights affirmed.