In a 3-2 decision, the Supreme Court of South Carolina Wednesday denied multiple petitions for rehearing on their decision that South Carolina’s Fetal Heartbeat Protection From Abortion Act (Fetal Heartbeat Act) violated South Carolina constitutional privacy, due process and equal protection guarantees.

The Fetal Heartbeat Act attempted to prohibit abortions after a fetal cardiac activity is detectable, typically around six weeks of gestation. The act provided exceptions for rape and incest within twenty weeks gestation, with further exceptions for health of the patient and fetal anomaly as defined by the act. Physicians who violated the act would have faced a $10,000 fine and up to two years imprisonment.

Attorney General of South Carolina Alan Wilson stated “[W]e respectfully disagree with the Court’s decision. This issue is now in the legislature’s hands.” In January, state lawmakers introduced another restrictive bill banning abortion, the Human Life Protection Act, which is up for consideration in the South Carolina House on February 10. The act would ban abortions from the time of conception, stating, “It is undisputed that the life of every human being begins at conception.”

Justice Kaye Hearn, who authored the opinion which found the Fetal Heartbeat Act unconstitutional and voted to deny a rehearing, is set to retire, as she has reached South Carolina’s mandated age of retirement. Judge Gary Hill was elected on Wednesday to replace Hearn, marking the first time in 35 years that the South Carolina Supreme Court will not have a woman on the bench.

As of May 2022, men held 59 percent of state supreme court seats, and nine states had only one woman on the bench.