Supreme Court Agrees to Review Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act.(Case overview)

Six years after the Supreme Court overturned Nebraska's ban on partial-birth abortions, a newly reconstituted High Court will hear arguments on a lower court ruling that blocked enforcement of the federal Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act. The justices' February 21 decision came on the Court's first official day of business after Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr., replaced Sandra Day O'Connor.

The justices will hear Gonzales v. Carhart in their next term, which begins in October.

When President Bush signed the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act into law, he said, "In passing this legislation, members of the House and Senate made a studied decision based upon compelling evidence. The best case against partial birth abortion is a simple description of what happens and to whom it happens. It involves the partial delivery of a live boy or girl, and a sudden, violent end of that life."

The President added, "Our nation owes its children a different and better welcome. The bill I am about to sign protecting innocent new life from this practice reflects the compassion and humanity of America."

Three different federal courts of appeals have blocked enforcement in the years since the President signed the measure November 5, 2003. Each has held that the federal law conflicts with Stenberg v. Carhart, the 2000 Supreme Court decision in which five justices invalidated Nebraska's ban on partial-birth abortion.

At issue in Gonzales v. Carhart is a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit. In July 2005, the appeals court upheld a trial judge's conclusion that the law is unconstitutional.

The lead plaintiff is abortionist LeRoy Carhart, who was also the lead plaintiff in Stenberg.