South Carolina’s Supreme Court struck down a law that banned abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, guaranteeing the right to abortion for its residents under the local constitution, a major setback for abortion opponents, AFP reported.

“We assert that the right to privacy in our Constitution encompasses a woman’s decision to have an abortion,” the document reads.

Similar reasoning was used by the US Supreme Court in 1973 in Roe vs. Wade to support American women’s right to abortion.

But in June of last year, in a historic twist, the Court ruled that the decision was wrong and gave each state the freedom to make laws as they saw fit on the matter.

Since then, the country has been divided between states that have banned abortion, mostly in the south and center, and those that have expanded access to abortion on their territory, especially on the coast.

And that landscape is highly volatile, with each measure subject to a cascade of appeals to local courts.

Since June, restrictive measures have been blocked in emergency mode in several states pending decisions on the merits. The South Carolina Supreme Court was the first to issue a final ruling.

“This is a monumental victory for the protection of legal abortion in the South,” said Planned Parenthood, which operates many abortion clinics.

This opens up new opportunities for women in the region who do not have access to abortion, especially in Alabama and Tennessee.

However, this does not necessarily mean the end of the war. In its decision, the Supreme Court of South Carolina determined that the right to privacy can be “restricted” if it is done in a “reasonable” way.

This could allow local lawmakers to introduce new restrictions.

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