SC Supreme Court strikes down abortion ban; Burnette Shutt & McDaniel part of winning legal team
In a major victory for reproductive rights in South Carolina, the state Supreme Court today permanently struck down the state’s six-week abortion ban.
The court ruled that the ban violates rights to privacy guaranteed in the South Carolina Constitution.
Burnette Shutt & McDaniel attorneys M. Malissa Burnette, Kathleen McDaniel and Grant LeFever are part of the legal team representing Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, Greenville Women’s Clinic and two physicians in the lawsuit.
“Today’s ruling is a win for freedom,” Planned Parenthood Federation of American CEO Alexis McGill Johnson said. “We are relieved that this dangerous law has been relegated to the history books and can no longer threaten patients and providers in South Carolina.”
Burnette said the firm is proud of its work in protecting reproductive freedom in South Carolina. “While we prefer to move law forward, particularly when it comes to rights, in this case we’re happy that we keep winning the battle to avoid taking law backward 50 years.”
The state lawsuit was filed in July, shortly after the six-week ban went into effect after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
The ban had previously been blocked in federal court, thanks to the efforts of the Planned Parenthood Foundation of America, the Center for Reproductive Rights and Burnette Shutt & McDaniel. This summer’s Dobbs ruling necessitated taking the case to state courts.