South Carolina’s new all-male Supreme Court reversed course on abortion Wednesday, upholding one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the country.

Abortion is now banned in the state after six weeks of pregnancy — or before most people even know they are pregnant, according to Planned Parenthood South Atlantic.

“The legislature has made a policy determination that, at a certain point in the pregnancy, a woman’s interest in autonomy and privacy doesn’t outweigh the interest of the unborn child to live,” Justice John Kittredge wrote in the decision. “As a Court, unless we can say that the balance struck by the legislature was unreasonable as a matter of law, we must uphold the Act.”

The 4-1 decision marks a reversal for the state’s high court, after striking down a similar ban earlier this year.

A previous ban, which was passed in 2021, went into effect in June 2022 after Roe v. Wade was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court.

The legislation was immediately challenged in court by a group of doctors and abortion rights advocates, who argued the legislation violated residents’ right to privacy.

In January, the state’s Supreme Court agreed with abortion providers and voted to strike down the ban.

Former Justice Kaye Hearn, who was then the lone female on the court, wrote the leading opinion in the 3-2 ruling overturning of the 2021 ban.

In February, the Republican-majority legislature replaced Hearn — who had reached the court’s mandatory retiring age — with Justice Gary Hill, making South Carolina the only state with an all-male Supreme Court.

With a newly configured court, state Republicans passed a new ban earlier this year, addressing some concerns expressed by Justice John Few.

Abortion providers and advocates challenged the law again.

But on Wednesday, “an all-male court upheld horrifying and dystopian legislation that bans abortion in South Carolina before many women even have the chance to find out they’re pregnant,” South Carolina Democratic Party Chair Christale Spain said in a statement, attributing the ruling to “the MAGA Republicans in our legislature.”

“Women in rural, low-income, and communities of color across the Palmetto State, who already face insurmountable barriers to health care, will be disproportionately impacted,” she said.

Republican Governor Henry McMaster celebrated the ruling as a “historic moment in our state’s history” and the “culmination of years of hard work and determination by so many in our state to ensure that the sanctity of life is protected.”

With News Wire Services