Five Abortionists Challenge South Carolina Law Protecting Babies From Abortions
Five physicians in South Carolina recently filed a lawsuit challenging the state’s Fetal Heartbeat and Protection from Abortion Act, arguing that its provisions violate their religious freedom, LiveAction reported.
The lawsuit, announced in a Jan. 9 press release by the Lawyering Project, targets the South Carolina law which prohibits abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detectable but includes exceptions for medical emergencies, fatal fetal diagnoses, and cases of rape or incest up to 12 weeks of pregnancy (if the crime was reported to the police).
The plaintiffs, Dr. Dawn Bingham and four other OB/GYNs — Drs. Jane Doe, Patricia Seal, Jessica Tarleton, and Katee Wyant — claim that the law’s exceptions are too vague, forcing them to withhold what they describe as “abortion care” from patients.
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The Post and Courier Columbia reported that “Doe” is “an undisclosed doctor from Charleston.”
“Denying abortion care to such patients eviscerates the physicians’ religious and conscientious beliefs in honoring the inherent worth of every person, helping people in critical need, and placing others before themselves,” the doctors said in the press release.
The doctors argued that the law places them in an impossible position, claiming it infringes on their ability to follow their religious beliefs.
“The Abortion Ban violates the fundamental right to practice one’s faith,” the doctors claimed, “forcing plaintiffs to choose between observing their religious duties but risking imprisonment and professional discipline or reneging on their religious obligations but preserving their freedom and livelihood.”
Among the plaintiffs, Dr. Bingham has been particularly outspoken against pro-life initiatives, according to LiveAction. As a leader in the South Carolina section of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), she has condemned pro-life policies, including the Dobbs decision and South Carolina’s Fetal Heartbeat law, calling abortion “essential to reproductive health.”
“My faith commands me to respect the ability of my patients to direct the course of their lives,” Dr. Bingham said in the release. She shared in 2020 that she had served as an elder at First Presbyterian Church of Spartanburg.
“South Carolina’s Abortion Ban forces me to ignore the values and wishes of many of my patients,” she said, “and for that reason, I am proud to join today’s challenge.”
The state’s Fetal Heartbeat and Protection from Abortion Act has previously faced and successfully overcome several legal challenges, including a lawsuit from Planned Parenthood against the law and its definition of “fetal heartbeat.” The abortion giant attempted to argue that a fetal heartbeat is actually present at nine weeks rather than six, claiming that six-week embryos exhibit “pulses” rather than heartbeats. Additionally, a case challenging the law presented to the South Carolina Supreme Court in 2023 resulted in a 4-1 vote to uphold the pro-life law.
LifeNews Note: Rachel Quackenbush writes for CatholicVote, where this column originally appeared.
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