South Carolina’s all-male highest court upholds six-week abortion ban

South Carolina’s new all-male highest court on Wednesday reversed course on abortion rights, upholding the state’s strict six-week ban on the procedure.

The panel overrode an earlier decision in which the court decided a similar restriction was unconstitutional.

A judge in May had put a temporary halt to South Carolina’s new law banning most abortions around six weeks of pregnancy until the state supreme court could review the measure.

The ruling at the time, by Judge Clifton Newman, came just about 24 hours after the state governor, Henry McMaster, signed the bill, and meant South Carolina reverted back to a ban at about 20 weeks after fertilization.

The new ruling is a blow to reproductive rights campaigners. On Wednesday, McMaster hailed the decision, issuing a statement saying: “The supreme court’s ruling marks a historic moment in our state’s history and is the culmination of years of hard work and determination by so many in our state to ensure that the sanctity of life is protected.”

It went on: “With this victory, we protect the lives of countless unborn children and reaffirm South Carolina’s place as one of the most pro-life states in America.”

The decision was 4-1, with the chief justice, Donald Beatty, in the minority.

The win for anti-abortion lobby and ultra-conservative legislators in the state general assembly came just over a year after the US supreme court overturned the federal right to seek an abortion in the US when it struck down Roe v Wade, giving back power to the individual states to legislate on the matter.

More details soon …