South Carolina Code 44-41-650. Exceptions for rape and incest; physician required to notify law enforcement
(1) the pregnancy is the result of rape, and the probable gestational age of the unborn child is not more than twelve weeks; or
Terms Used In South Carolina Code 44-41-650
- Abortion: means the act of using or prescribing any instrument, medicine, drug, or any other substance, device, or means with the intent to terminate the clinically diagnosable pregnancy of a woman with knowledge that the termination by those means will, with reasonable likelihood, cause the death of the unborn child. See South Carolina Code 44-41-610
- Allegation: something that someone says happened.
- Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
- Fetal heartbeat: means cardiac activity, or the steady and repetitive rhythmic contraction of the fetal heart, within the gestational sac. See South Carolina Code 44-41-610
- Gestational age: means the age of an unborn child as calculated from the first day of the last menstrual period of a pregnant woman. See South Carolina Code 44-41-610
- Physician: means a person licensed to practice medicine in this State. See South Carolina Code 44-41-610
- Pregnant: means the human biological female reproductive condition of having a living unborn child within her body, whether or not she has reached the age of majority. See South Carolina Code 44-41-610
- Unborn child: means an individual organism of the species homo sapiens from conception until live birth. See South Carolina Code 44-41-610
(2) the pregnancy is the result of incest, and the probable gestational age of the unborn child is not more than twelve weeks.
(B) A physician who performs or induces an abortion on a pregnant woman based on an exception contained in this section must report the allegation of rape or incest to the sheriff in the county in which the abortion was performed. The report must be made no later than twenty-four hours after performing or inducing the abortion, may be made orally or otherwise, and shall include the name and contact information of the pregnant woman making the allegation. Prior to performing or inducing an abortion, the physician who performs or induces an abortion based on an allegation of rape or incest must notify the pregnant woman that the physician will report the allegation of rape or incest to the sheriff. The physician shall make written notations in the pregnant woman’s medical records that the abortion was performed pursuant to the applicable exception, that the doctor notified the sheriff of the allegation of rape or incest in a timely manner, and that the woman was notified prior to the abortion that the physician would notify the sheriff of the allegation of rape or incest.
(C) A person who violates this section is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction, must be fined ten thousand dollars, imprisoned for not more than two years, or both.