Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, et al. v. Wilson, et al.

(REVISED 04.26.2022) This case challenges SB 1, a South Carolina law that bans abortion after about six weeks of pregnancy. At six weeks, many women do not realize they are pregnant and this law would effectively end all abortion care in South Carolina, according to Greenville Women’s Clinic, an abortion provider in the state and the Center’s client. 

Six weeks of pregnancy is also about 4 months before the viability standard determined in Roe v. Wade nearly 50 years ago. Many attempts have been made to ban abortion before viability, but so far, none have been successful. Nancy Northup, the Center’s president and CEO, explained in a statement,  “This ban blatantly defies nearly 50 years of Supreme Court precedent protecting a person’s right to end a pregnancy. Many states have passed similar bans in an attempt to send a Roe test case to the Supreme Court, but courts have blocked them all.”

Plaintiffs: Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, Greenville Womens’ Clinic, and Terry L. Buffkin, M.D. 

Center Attorneys: Genevieve Scott

Co-Counsel/Cooperating Attorneys: M. Malissa Burnette, Kathleen McDaniel, and Grant Burnette LeFever of  Burnette Shutt & McDaniel, PA and Julie A. Murray and Hannah Swanson

Summary: On February 18, 2021, South Carolina politicians passed the first abortion ban of the year and South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster signed the bill into law. The same day, the Center filed its complaint challenging the ban. One day later, a federal district court granted an emergency order blocking the law from going into effect. On March 19, 2021, a federal district court granted a preliminary injunction and the law is now blocked while the case proceeds. On March 31, Plaintiffs filed a motion for summary judgment, asking the district court to permanently strike down the ban as unconstitutional.  On July 13, the case was stayed at the trial court level, pending a decision from the U.S. Supreme Court in Jackson Women’s Health Organization v. Dobbs, the Center’s challenge to Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban.

Meanwhile, on April 2, the State appealed the district court’s order granting the preliminary injunction to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.  Oral argument took place on January 27, 2022. On February 22, 2022, the Fourth Circuit upheld the district court decision that temporarily enjoined the law. The Court of Appeals ruling outlined how the law banned abortion “at a time when many women do not yet know that they are pregnant and cannot even exercise what minimal right the Act affords them to secure an abortion — which is precisely the effect the Act is intended to have.”  The court also echoed the district court’s conclusion that “[t]his case does not present a close call.”  Read more about the ruling here. The State has filed a petition for rehearing en banc with the full appellate court.

State: SC

Status: Open

Case Documents:

• 02.18.2021 Complaint
• 03.19.2021 Preliminary Injunction 
• 03.31.2021 Memo in Support of Motion for Summary Judgment
• 09.01.2021 Response Brief of Plaintiffs-Appellees
• 09.08.2021 Brief for Amici Curiae States in Support of Plaintiffs-Appellees
• 09.08.2021 Brief of Amici Curiae American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, American Medical Association, et al. in Support of Plaintiffs-Appellees
• 02.22.2022 Court of Appeals Ruling
• 03.25.2022 Opposition to Petition for Rehearing En Banc

Read more about the case: 

• 02.18.2021 South Carolina Passes First Abortion Ban of 2021; Lawsuit Filed
• 02.19.2021 Court Will Block South Carolina Abortion Ban One Day After Gov. McMaster Signed It Into Law
• 03.19.2021 Court Blocks South Carolina Abortion Ban as Litigation Continues
• 02.22.2022 Federal Appeals Court Upholds Decision Temporarily Blocking South Carolina’s Six-Week Abortion Ban