South Carolina Seeks Partial End to Abortion Exception Challenge

Doctors can’t win their vagueness challenge to a maternal health exception in a South Carolina law banning abortion after about six-weeks’ gestation, state officials said.

The officials, including Gov. Henry McMaster (R), asked the US District Court for the District of South Carolina Friday for partial judgment before trial in a lawsuit brought by doctors who said the exception is unconstitutionally confusing. Many states have used the same language for years, and no court, including the US Supreme Court, has questioned its meaning, they said.

Given the widespread use of the exception’s language for decades, it’s highly unlikely it doesn’t ...