In Bingham v. Wilson, (D SC, May 7, 2025), a South Carolina federal district court refused to dismiss claims by five physicians that the health and fetal anomaly exceptions to South Carolina's abortion ban are unconstitutionally vague. The court however dismissed plaintiffs' free exercise challenge. The court said in part:
Plaintiffs’ theory is that “South Carolina has made a value judgment that secular (e.g., procreative) motivations for ending a potential life are important enough to overcome its asserted general interest in preserving it, but that religious motivations are not.”... Accepting Plaintiffs’ argument would require this Court to accept that the performance of abortions is a religious practice protected by the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment....
... Plaintiffs’ argument hinges on a finding that the Abortion Ban favors “secular conduct” over “religious conduct” by permitting limited exceptions (with the effect of undermining the State’s interest in preserving life), but prohibiting such exceptions in unenumerated circumstances where the Abortion Ban infringes upon their free religious exercise. The Court finds this argument unpersuasive. The State has a legitimate interest in both fetal and maternal health and exercised its plenary authority in enacting legislation that considers these interests....
