The nation’s leading abortion business “failed in attempting to rewrite the science of human development,” as a state Supreme Court ruled that the term “fetal heartbeat” legally protects unborn children from abortion at six weeks.

The South Carolina Supreme Court unanimously upheld the 2023 Fetal Heartbeat and Protection from Abortion Act, which safeguards babies from surgical or chemical termination the moment medical technology can detect “cardiac activity, or the steady and repetitive rhythmic contraction of the fetal heart.” After losing a previous case to declare the law unconstitutional, Planned Parenthood focused its third round of jurisprudence against the act on trying to redefine the onset of a “fetal heartbeat” from six weeks to at least nine weeks, affording the abortion giant to commit three more weeks of unrestrained abortion. But justices ruled that Planned Parenthood did not believe some of its own arguments, which relied heavily on semantics.

The state Supreme Court ruled unanimously on Wednesday that, while medical professionals may “disagree on [the] precise meaning” of nearly every medical term in the law, its use of the term “fetal heartbeat” constitutes a “biologically identifiable moment in time ... when electrical impulses are detectable on an ultrasound — which even Planned Parenthood acknowledges occurs at approximately six weeks of pregnancy.”

“Time and time again, we have defended the right to life in South Carolina, and time and time again, we have prevailed,” said South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster (R). “Today’s ruling is another clear and decisive victory that will ensure the lives of countless unborn children remain protected and that South Carolina continues to lead the charge in defending the sanctity of life.”

The ruling comes as a triumph for pro-life state lawmakers, who saw Democrats storm out of the legislative proceedings over the original 2021 heartbeat bill, after House Minority Leader Todd Rutherford (D-74) declared, “[The] Democratic caucus is not going to participate in this farce of a vote about pretend life.”

“We commend the South Carolina legislature and Governor McMaster for enacting a pro-life law that relies on sound medical science and statistical evidence, which shows that a detectable fetal heartbeat reliably and overwhelmingly predicts a healthy live birth. The state’s high court was right to uphold this law, which is critical for protecting mothers and their unborn babies,” Erin Hawley, vice president of the Alliance Defending Freedom’s Center for Life and Regulatory Practice, told The Washington Stand. “All human life is worth protecting, and the people of South Carolina have been eager to affirm life and prevent the obvious harms that abortion causes women and their children.”

Justices Reject Planned Parenthood’s Word Games

In its unsuccessful efforts to loosen the law’s protections, the nation’s largest abortion business engaged in a series of tendentious semantical arguments. Planned Parenthood tried to argue doctors cannot measure a “fetal heartbeat,” because a child’s heart is not fully developed and separated into four chambers until nine weeks’ gestation. The abortion giant also claimed, “while there is repetitive detectable embryonic electrical activity after approximately six weeks,” that activity is not “steady or rhythmic” until “after approximately nine weeks.” Finally, Planned Parenthood attorneys quibbled over the law’s use of the term “fetal,” asserting that “it is uncontroverted that there is no ‘fetus’ until after nine weeks of pregnancy, as at six weeks there is only an embryo.”

But the court rejected these word games. “Using the common, ordinary understanding of these words, the text of the definition of ‘fetal heartbeat’ describes what a medical professional may observe as electrical impulses on an ultrasound at approximately six weeks of pregnancy,” the justices ruled. They added that legislators regularly used the terms “fetus” and “embryo” interchangeably. And although Planned Parenthood now disputes the onset of a fetal heartbeat, “we could find not one instance during the entire 2023 legislative session in which anyone connected in any way to the General Assembly framed the Act as banning abortion after approximately nine weeks” rather than six.

Conservatives, Planned Parenthood, and Judicial Activists Agree: Fetal Heartbeat Begins at Six Weeks

Justices cited Planned Parenthood’s previous legal arguments to imply the organization argued in bad faith. “While Planned Parenthood now argues its doctors are unclear as to which point in time abortion is prohibited” under the fetal heartbeat protection act, “it has previously stated the language from both the 2021 Act and the 2023 Act clearly prohibits abortion at approximately six weeks.”

The court noted that Planned Parenthood’s 2021 legal injunction referred to the heartbeat bill as a “Six-Week Ban,” a conclusion its legal counsel repeated during oral arguments.

Planned Parenthood’s website once admitted that during weeks 5-6 “[a] very basic beating heart and circulatory system develop.”

Wednesday’s ruling also noted that liberal U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s dissent in the 2021 Whole Women’s Health case said the Texas Heartbeat law’s protections took effect “starting approximately six weeks after a woman’s last menstrual period.”

Rather than detect a fetal heartbeat, Planned Parenthood suggested the court allow abortionists to determine a child’s gestational age by measuring the distance from its cranium to rump. But, the ruling stated, “Planned Parenthood was unable to say what the decisive measurement would be that would indicate the embryo had completed the transition into a fetus, nor have we been able to do so.”

Planned Parenthood Cannot ‘Rewrite the Science of Human Development’: Pro-Life Advocates

Pro-life advocates celebrated the state court’s clear and unequivocal ruling.

“Planned Parenthood has failed in attempting to rewrite the science of human development to further their agenda for more abortions and more profit. The level of science denial from this abortion giant that receives $800 million in taxpayer funding annually should astound South Carolinians who overwhelmingly re-elected Gov. Henry McMaster and state Republicans after they enacted the heartbeat law,” SBA Pro-Life America Political Director Caitlin Connors stated. “We celebrate that the justices saw through Planned Parenthood’s charade and upheld the law that protects 4,829 lives annually.”

After the law took effective in late August 2023, the number of abortions carried out in the state fell by 78% the first month after the heartbeat protection went into effect and remained flat.

“The pro-life movement continues to win in defending life-affirming laws in state courts following the Dobbs decision. This is a great victory not only for South Carolina, but for mothers and unborn children across the state,” Carolyn McDonnell, litigation counsel for Americans United for Life, remarked. “This is justice. This is truth. And every child saved is worth it,” added 40 Weeks for Life.

Lisa Van Riper, president of South Carolina Citizens for Life, called the ruling “a win, not only for the heartbeats of the unborn, but for all the members of our human family who may become or who are vulnerable in our society.”

State Attorney General Alan Wilson (R) promised he would “continue to stand for life, defend the law, and fight for the will of South Carolinians in every courtroom.”

As of March 26, 16 states had laws in effect protecting unborn children at six weeks or earlier, according to the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute, formerly a part of Planned Parenthood.

The court victory prodded SFLAction President Kristan Hawkins to urge state lawmakers to pass the more protective Human Life Protection Act (H. 3457), which would protect unborn children from abortion at conception and penalize abortionists who ply their trade in the state with a felony punishable by a $10,000 fine and/or two years in prison. The bill, introduced by State Rep. John McCravy (R-13), who leads the General Assembly’s South Carolina Family Caucus, would allow an abortion to prevent a woman’s death or “serious risk of a substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function, not including psychological or emotional conditions.” It has no impact on in vitro fertilization (IVF) or any form of hormonal contraception including so-called “emergency contraception.”

Steve Petit, president of the Palmetto Family Council, hailed Wednesday’s court decision even as he promised to sustain legislative momentum toward protecting all unborn life. “We celebrate this ruling as a significant step toward a culture that honors the inherent dignity of every human life, and we will continue our work to see life fully protected from conception to natural death across the Palmetto State,” he said.