Supreme Court Hears Challenges to Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act.(Gonzales vs. Carhart)

They were only 12 words, spoken by John Roberts, Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, at 10:05 a.m. on November 8. "We'll hear arguments first this morning in case 05-380, Gonzales vs. Carhart."

But while few in number, they symbolically represented the unyielding efforts of a multitude of pro-lifers. Passage of the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003 represents one of the most impressive displays of pro-life ingenuity, determination, and grassroots involvement in the nearly 34 years since the plague of Roe v. Wade was unleashed on America.

The nine justices were hearing oral arguments in the first of two challenges to the law. Defending the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act on behalf of the Bush Administration was Solicitor General Paul D. Clement (as he did in the second case, Gonzales v. Planned Parenthood Federation of America). Representing the plaintiff, abortionist LeRoy Carhart, was Priscilla Smith of the Center for Reproductive Rights, a leading pro-abortion advocacy organization.

The back-to-back hour-long oral arguments came almost exactly three years to the day after pro-life President George W. Bush signed the measure into law. Then-NARAL President Kate Michelman had this to say.

"Today we saw the real George Bush," she said. "Any shred of doubt that this is the most anti-choice president this country has ever had has been convincingly erased."

Listening to oral arguments on C-SPAN radio, it was obvious that the justices were attentive, alert, and ready to ask questions. Clement responded to every queryeven the most arcane, could-this-happen-once-in-a-million-abortions questionsin an informal, conversational tone of voice that defused even those justices most primed to indignantly challenge the law's legal underpinnings.

No one knows how the Court will rule. Two new justices have joined the CourtChief Justice Roberts and Justice Samuel Alitosince the High Court rejected Nebraska's state ban on partial-birth abortion in Stenberg v. Carhart. And while it is true that Justice Anthony Kennedy dissented in Stenberg, it is simply impossible to predict how he might decide.