The final oral arguments are scheduled to occur before U.S. District Judge Richard Kopf on June 2.

NOTABLE QUOTES FROM THE NEBRASKA FEDERAL ABORTION BAN TRIAL:

1. On the opening day of the trial, U.S.DISTRICT JUDGE RICHARD KOPF noted to the lawyers: "I have to tell you, I don't see that Congress spent anywhere near the kind of effort that you folks have spent in honestly trying to give me a fair picture of the medical situation." And later, to a lawyer for the Department of Justice, "The question really is, did Congress really care about whether this was safe or unsafe."

2. Expert Witness for the plaintiffs, identified as DR. DOE, testifying on the first day of the trial in a secure, undisclosed location, was asked by plaintiffs' attorney how the Act would affect the witness's practice. "It would put a chill on the way I practice," Dr. Doe said. "I would never know if I was going to be breaching the Act using the techniques that I currently use." Then why did you agree to testify in this case? plaintiffs' attorney asked. "I thought it was the right thing to do. And that's on the basis of my past experience with seeing the results of illegal and unsafe abortion in the earlier years of my experience. So I wouldn't like to go back to those years."

3. On March 31, DR. WILLIAM FITZHUGH, asked by plaintiffs' attorney what he would do if the Act were to take effect, said: "I would probably continue until such time as I hear [about] the enforcement or somebody is making waves. . . . I would have to take my chances a little bit, I think." He was then asked, Would you risk jail time? He replied, "Probably."

4. On April 1, DR. LEROY CARHART, asked by plaintiffs' attorney what he would do if the Act were in effect, said: "I would stop doing abortions past 13 weeks and go back to where we were in 1969." Later that day, outside the courthouse, Dr. Carhart said: "This case is not about abortions in the third trimester. It affects the safest procedures I perform as early as 12 weeks of pregnancy. I won this case in the Supreme Court four years ago. I'm back in court today because the government is back in my office, coming between me and my patient and telling me that I can't put my patient's health and safety first."

THE LAWSUIT: The lawsuit is filed on behalf of LeRoy Carhart, M.D.,a physician licensed to practice in Nebraska, Iowa, Indiana, Kansas, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Wisconsin; William G. Fitzhugh, M.D., a physician licensed to practice in Virginia; William H. Knorr,M.D., a physician licensed to practice in Alabama, South Carolina, Maryland and New York; and Jill L. Vibhakar, M.D., a physician licensed to practice in Iowa. The defendant is John Ashcroft, Attorney General of the United States, The judge in the case is the Honorable Richard Kopf, appointed by former President Reagan. Lead attorney is in the lawsuit Priscilla Smith, Director of the Domestic Legal Program for the Center for Reproductive Rights, who was also on the Center's legal team in Stenberg v. Carhart.

BACKGROUND: Carhart v. Ashcroft is a federal civil rights lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the District of Nebraska challenging the constitutionality of the "Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003." The Center for Reproductive Rights won a 2000 Supreme Court decision in Stenberg v. Carhart, striking down a Nebraska ban on so-called "partial birth abortion," representing Dr. LeRoy Carhart, the lead plaintiff in this federal lawsuit. The current lawsuit contends that the federal ban, like the Nebraska ban, is unconstitutional because it would ban abortions as early as 12-15 weeks in pregnancy, outlaw abortions that doctors say are safe and among the best for women's health, and contains no exception for the woman's health.