South Carolina’s ban on abortions after roughly six weeks is back in court and centered on the definition of fetal heartbeat.

Lawyers for the state’s Planned Parenthood clinics argued May 2 the state's abortion law should be interpreted as taking effect at nine weeks of pregnancy rather than six.

Mikenzie Buchanan scooped up an armful of clipboards piled behind the front desk at A Woman’s Choice, an abortion clinic here; it was almost too many to hold. On each clipboard, behind a blue cover to protect personal information,

The new ban has an exception for saving a woman's life, as well as in cases involving rape and incest. But Roberts said health care workers are still prevented from performing an abortion on a nonviable pregnancy that they know may become deadly -- such as when the fetus is missing organs or implanted outside the uterus -- until it actually becomes deadly.