Supreme Court strikes down Nebraska partial-birth abortion ban 5-4 in Stenberg v. Carhart for lacking a health exception

On June 28, 2000, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in Stenberg v. Carhart that Nebraska's ban on "partial-birth abortion" was unconstitutional because it lacked an exception for the health of the mother and was written so broadly it banned standard dilation and evacuation procedures used after 12 weeks — the safest and most common second-trimester abortion method. Justice Stephen Breyer wrote for the majority, applying Planned Parenthood v. Casey's undue burden standard. The ruling invalidated similar laws in approximately 30 states. Congress spent three years crafting a federal version, passing the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act in 2003 without a health exception, which the Supreme Court upheld in Gonzales v. Carhart (2007).