United States Ninth Circuit

The Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003 is unconstitutional since it: 1) lacks the health exception required of all abortion regulations in the absence of a medical consensus, that the prohibited procedure is never necessary to preserve women's health; 2) imposes an undue burden on a woman's right to choose a previability abortion; and 3) is impermissibly vague. The appropriate remedy for the serious constitutional flaws in the Act is enjoining the enforcement of the statute in its entirety.

Appellate Information

• Argued 10/20/2005
• Decided 01/31/2006
• Published 01/31/2006

Judges

• REINHARDT, Circuit Judge., Before REINHARDT, THOMAS, and W. FLETCHER, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellees:
  
• Peter D. Keisler, Kevin V. Ryan, Gregory G. Katsas (argued), Marleigh D. Dover, Catherine Y. Hancock, Teal Luthy Miller, Jeffrey A. Wadsworth, U.S. Department of Justice, Washington DC, for the defendant-appellant., Eve C. Gartner (argued), Roger K. Evans, Mimi Liu, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc., New York, NY;  Helene Krasnoff, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc., Washington DC;  Beth H. Parker, Teresa Federer, Rachel Sommovilla, Bingham McCutchen LLP, San Francisco, CA, for the plaintiffs-appellees., Jay Alan Sekulow, Stuart J. Roth, Colby M. May, Walter M. Weber, American Center for Law and Justice, Washington D.C., for amici curiae American Center of Law and Justice and various members of Congress in support of defendant-appellant., Steven W. Fitschen, The National Legal Foundation, Virginia Beach, VA, for amicus curiae The National Legal Foundation in support of defendant-appellant., James Bopp, Jr., Thomas J. Marzen, Richard E. Coleson, Bopp, Coleson & Bostrom, Terre Haute, IN, for amicus curiae Horatio R. Storer Foundation, Inc. in support of defendant-appellant., Julie Shotzbarger, Thomas More Law Center, Ann Arbor, MI, for amicus curiae Thomas More Law Center in support of defendant-appellant., Teresa S. Collett, University of St. Thomas School of Law, Minneapolis, MN, for amici curiae the Christian Medical and Dental Society and the Catholic Medical Association in support of defendant-appellant., James Joseph Lynch Jr., Brad Dacus, James Griffiths, Pacific Justice Institute, Sacramento, CA, for amici curiae Margie Riley and Laurette Elsburry in support of defendant-appellant., Dennis J. Herrera, Joanne C. Hoeper, Aleeta Van Runkle, Kathleen S. Morris, Office of the City Attorney, San Francisco, CA, for the plaintiff/intervenor-appellee., Kurt G. Calia, Gregory M. Lipper, Kimberly S. McNish, Covington & Burling, Washington DC;  David M. Jolley, Covington & Burling, San Francisco, CA;  Margaret C. Crosby, American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Northern California, Inc., San Francisco, CA;  Susan Frietsche, Stacey I. Young, Women's Law Project, Pittsburgh, PA;  David S. Cohen, Women's Law Project, Philadelphia, PA, for amici curiae the California Medical Association, Association of Reproductive Health Professionals, Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health, and seventy-five individual physicians in support of plaintiff-appellees.