- Arguing that Nebraska's ban on so-called "partial-birth abortion" was specifically designed to overturn the right to choose abortion guaranteed by Roe v. Wade, the Center for Reproductive Rights today filed a brief asking the United States Supreme Court to find the ban unconstitutional. Oral argument in the case Stenberg v. Carhart is scheduled for April 25, 2000; a decision is expected by early July. It will be the first abortion case heard by the Court in eight years.
"At stake in this case is the degree of constitutional protection for women's right to choose abortion. The public has been deceived to think that this case is about 'late-term' abortion. It is not. The Supreme Court will evaluate whether states have the right to force a woman to sacrifice her life and health to promote an extremist political agenda that seeks to outlaw abortion outright," said Janet Benshoof, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights, a legal advocacy organization.
Nebraska's abortion ban, which imposes a criminal penalty on doctors of up to 20 years in prison, was struck down in a unanimous decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit on September 24, 1999. The Center for Reproductive Rights argues that the ban, which is similar to bans blocked by courts in 20 states and currently pending in Congress, should be found unconstitutional for the following reasons:
* the law prohibits the most common and safest methods of abortion used before fetal viability, the point at which the fetus can survive outside the womb;
*although the State of Nebraska has now shifted its interpretation of the law, claiming it seeks only to prohibit the D&X method of abortion, the language of the law intentionally sweeps far beyond the definition for that one procedure, resulting in a broad prohibition against abortion;
* the law violates women's right to privacy by permitting the government to dictate the options for a woman and her physician once she has decided to terminate a pregnancy;
* the law fails to provide exceptions to protect a woman's health and usurps the physician's medical judgment by criminalizing safe, medically accepted procedures; and
* the State seeks to impose an undue burden on the right to choose abortion by curtailing Roe's protections for women and extending legal protections to a fetus, regardless of viability.
Simon Heller and Janet Benshoof of the Center for Reproductive Rights represent the plaintiff who challenged the Nebraska ban, LeRoy Carhart, M.D. A retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel, Dr. Carhart is one of only three abortion providers in the state of Nebraska. "Friend of the Court" briefs have been filed in support of Dr. Carhart by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, 81 Members of Congress, several state Attorneys General, as well as numerous religious organizations and advocates for women's equality.
