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Gonzales v. Planned Parenthood Federation of America and Gonzales v. Carhart

Court Type: U.S. Supreme Court
Status: Closed (Judgment)
Last Update: February 2, 2009

What's at Stake

Challenge to a federal abortion ban, adopted in 2003, that lacks an exception to preserve a woman’s health and is so broadly written that it would prohibit abortions performed as early as 13 weeks into the pregnancy. DECIDED

Three years after the United States Supreme Court struck down a Nebraska abortion ban on the grounds that it lacked a health exception and that its broad language prohibited many common abortion methods, Congress passed a nearly identical ban. Every federal court to review the federal ban has declared it unconstitutional. The Supreme Court reviewed two of the three legal challenges to the ban. The ACLU filed amicus briefs in each case asking the Court to hold the ban unconstitutional because it endangers women’s health and to strike it down in its entirety.


ACLU Legal Director Steve Shapiro talks about the Gonzales case at the 2006 Membership Conference

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