The abortion wars return to the Supreme Court on Tuesday in a case that asks if government can criminalize a controversial way to end late-term pregnancies. Carhart learned about abortion during his medical training in the days before the Supreme Court legalized abortion nationwide in 1973 in Roe vs. Wade. Back then, many women he treated were hospitalized due to complications from illegal abortions, some self-induced. He could go to prison for 20 years under Nebraska's law but says it is women who ultimately pay the price with their health and their rights if doctors can't use their own medical judgment to protect patient safety. The Nebraska law, like similar bans in 29 other states, represents a tactical shift by abortion critics.
All sides agree the procedure is gruesome, involving the removal of an intact fetus.
The best estimate is several hundred times a year out of 1.4 million abortions. Thirty states have voted to ban the procedure and Congress has voted to outlaw it, too. But President Clinton vetoed the congressional measure in the heat of the 1996 presidential re-election race. The 2000 version cleared the House this month and will head for another veto shortly before the November elections. That was a test that the justices upheld 5-4 the last time they addressed abortion, in the 1992 election year.