2022 South Carolina Code of Laws
Title 44 - Health
Chapter 41 - Abortions
Section 44-41-660. Exception for medical emergency; written notations in medical records.
(A) Section 44-41-650 does not apply to a physician who performs or induces an abortion if the physician determines according to standard medical practice that a medical emergency exists that prevents compliance with the section.
(B) A physician who performs or induces an abortion on a pregnant woman based on the exception in subsection (A) shall make written notations in the pregnant woman's medical records of the following:
(1) the physician's belief that a medical emergency necessitating the abortion existed;
(2) the medical condition of the pregnant woman that assertedly prevented compliance with Section 44-41-650; and
(3) the medical rationale to support the physician's conclusion that the pregnant woman's medical condition necessitated the immediate abortion of her pregnancy to avert her death.
(C) For at least seven years from the date the notations are made, the physician shall maintain in his own records a copy of the notations.
HISTORY: 2021 Act No. 1 (S.1), Section 3, eff February 18, 2021.
Validity
For the validity of this section, see Planned Parenthood South Atlantic v. Wilson, 26 F.4th 600 (4th Cir. February 22, 2022), vacated by Planned Parenthood South Atlantic v. Wilson, 2022 WL 2900658 (4th Cir. July 21, 2022); see Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Org., No. 19-1392, 597 U.S. _, 2022 WL 2276808 (U.S. June 24, 2022).
