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From Suffrage to the Senate America's Political Women: An Encyclopedia of Leaders, Causes & Issues

Gonzales, Attorney General v. Carhart et al. (2007)

The 2007 Supreme Court case Gonzales v. Carhart concerns Nebraska’s “partial-birth abortion” law, which outlawed a specific late-term abortion procedure. In 2000, the U.S. Supreme Court found the law unconstitutional in Stenberg v. Carhart. In response, Congress passed the federal Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003, which prohibited the same specific late-term abortion procedure. It did still allow for the use of the procedure to save the life of the pregnant woman. Dr. LeRoy H. Carhart is the Nebraska physician who challenged both cases. In Gonzales, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed its decision from Stenberg and found the partial-birth abortion ban to be constitutional. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said that the decision was “alarming” in her dissent from the majority opinion.

Observers note that a significant difference in the two cases rests in the justices who decided it. Both decisions were 5-4, but there was a change in the justices. Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, who had voted with the majority (finding the law unconstitutional) in 2000, had retired. She was replaced with Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr., who voted with the majority (finding the law constitutional).

See also: Abortion; Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003; Ginsburg, Ruth Bader; Reproductive Rights; Steinberg v. Carhart

References: Gonzales, Attorney General v. Carhart et al. (2007) (Nos. 05-380 and 05-1382); The New York Times, April 19, 2007.

Citation Types

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MLA 9th
"Gonzales, Attorney General V. Carhart Et Al. (2007)." From Suffrage to the Senate America's Political Women: An Encyclopedia of Leaders, Causes & Issues, edited by Suzanne O’Dea, Salem Press, 2019. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=Suffrage3e_0390.
APA 7th
Gonzales, Attorney General v. Carhart et al. (2007). From Suffrage to the Senate America's Political Women: An Encyclopedia of Leaders, Causes & Issues, In S. O’Dea (Ed.), Salem Press, 2019. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=Suffrage3e_0390.
CMOS 17th
"Gonzales, Attorney General V. Carhart Et Al. (2007)." From Suffrage to the Senate America's Political Women: An Encyclopedia of Leaders, Causes & Issues, Edited by Suzanne O’Dea. Salem Press, 2019. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=Suffrage3e_0390.