Court Blocks Newly Signed South Carolina Abortion Law on Planned Parenthood’s Behest

Melissa Anne Cunningham-Sereque shows the wand used to do ultrasound on pregnant women during a South Carolina House subcommittee hearing on an abortion bill in Columbia, S.C., on Feb. 3, 2021. Jeffrey Collins/AP Photo

A federal judge on Friday blocked a newly signed law in South Carolina that bans abortions after a heartbeat is detected in the unborn baby.

U.S. District Judge Mary Geiger Lewis, an Obama appointee, ruled in favor of Planned Parenthood, which filed the suit around the time the bill was signed into law.