"Today Nebraska Attorney General Don Stenberg filed a brief with the United States Supreme Court presenting arguments which would, if accepted by the Court, eviscerate the right to choose abortion established in Roe v. Wade twenty-seven years ago. Nowhere in the brief for the case Stenberg v. Carhart does Nebraska acknowledge that the case involves only abortions performed during the first 20 weeks or pregnancy; no "late-term" abortions are at issue in the case at all.

"First, Nebraska urges the Court to allow states to ban any methods of abortion at any stage of pregnancy, even the first trimester, so long as another method of abortion remains available. Thus, states would be free to prohibit RU 486 abortions in the first trimester, or induction procedures in the second trimester.

"Second, Nebraska insists that once the fetus has been removed from the uterus, any procedure resulting in fetal demise is not an "abortion" at all. In other words, Nebraska is asking the Supreme Court to redefine "abortion" so that most commonly used abortion methods, including suction curettage and dilation and evacuation, are no longer considered "abortions" at all, are not governed by Roe v. Wade, and thus may be prohibited by states.

"Third, Nebraska denies that women have the right to utilize the safest method of abortion available. In fact, the Nebraska trial record demonstrates conclusively that the plaintiff, Dr. Carhart, uses the safest method of abortion for his patients at every stage of pregnancy. Viewing this record as irrelevant, Nebraska instead would call a halt to medical progress in abortion practice and relegate women to methods of abortion which are more dangerous for them than methods prohibited by the states.

"Fourth, Nebraska argues - without citing any supporting evidence -- that states may regulate abortion in order to show "concern" for the fetus. In other words, if a majority of legislators finds a particular abortion method offensive, they can ban it.

"Taken together, these four arguments, if accepted by the Court, would go a long way towards gutting the principles established in Roe. States would be left free to ban whichever abortion methods they chose to; they would be able to prohibit the safest methods of abortion; and they would be able to define women's constitutional rights out of existence by semantic sleight of hand.

"U.S. District Court Judge Richard G. Kopf, the federal judge who struck down this statute, wrote: "The Supreme Court has made it plain that a government may not require a woman to sacrifice herself for a nonviable fetus and that is precisely what Nebraska's law requires." The State of Nebraska now wants to make sacrificing women's health a constitutional prerogative."