Doctors Say South Carolina’s Abortion Law Violates Their Rights

A South Carolina law banning abortions after nine weeks’ gestation, with narrow exceptions, violates the religious rights of doctors prevented from providing terminations mandated by their deeply held beliefs, a new lawsuit says.

Five physicians sued Attorney General Alan Wilson (R) and other state officials in the US District Court for the District of South Carolina on Wednesday, alleging the measure violates their rights under the First Amendment’s free exercise clause and is overly vague in violation of the 14th Amendment. The doctors’ religious beliefs mandate that they care for others, including relieving their suffering through abortion, they said.

Wilson’s ...