An all-male state Supreme Court voted 4 to 1 to uphold a ban on most abortions past six weeks.
Prenatal care doctors in the state are some of the most vocal opponents of strict abortion bans. In large part, says Dr. Kristl Tomlin of Columbia, that’s because those who write the law and those who practice medicine are not the same people.
“If I’m being legislated by people who don’t know medicine,” Dr. Tomlin says, “then that’s going to impact my ability to truly provide quality patient care.”
For Dr. Tricia Seal, an obstetrician and gynecologist based in in the state's capital, the future is worrisome – especially for families who will need late abortions in serious situations and may no longer be able to get them.
“I do a lot of second-trimester terminations for maternal health conditions and for fetal anomalies,” Dr. Seal says. “And for the brief time that we’ve had our six-week ban in place, that was devastating to those second-trimester families.
