Who is challenging the abortion ban in court?
In 2003, three separate lawsuits challenging the ban were filed in federal district courts by: • the Center for Reproductive Rights on behalf of Dr. LeRoy Carhart, Dr. William G. Fitzhugh, Dr. William H. Knorr, and Dr. Jill L. Vibhakar; • Planned Parenthood Federation of America on behalf of Planned Parenthood Golden Gate and other Planned Parenthood affiliates; and • the American Civil Liberties Union, Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP, the ACLU of Illinois, and the New York Civil Liberties Union on behalf of the National Abortion Federation and other doctors. In 2004, all three courts struck down the law because it failed to protect women’s health. Since then, three U.S. courts of appeals have affirmed the lower courts’ decisions. On November 8, 2006, the U.S. Supreme Court heard the Centers case, Gonzales v. Carhart, and Gonzales v. Planned Parenthood. The third case, National Abortion Federation v. Gonzales, is on hold until the Supreme Court rules in the other two cases. 3
