In a news release yesterday, Don Stenberg, the former Nebraska Attorney General who is currently running for the U.S. Senate, said that he expects the U.S. Supreme Court to overrule the 2000 partial-birth abortion case that bears his name and outlaw the gruesome procedure.Stenberg, who as Nebraska’s Attorney General in 2000 argued the partial birth abortion case, Stenberg v. Carhart, in the Supreme Court of the United States, said he was pleased the Court has agreed to reconsider that decision.
“In my opinion, the U.S. Supreme Court will correct a grave injustice, and will overrule Stenberg v. Carhart in a 5 – 4 decision,” Stenberg said.
Prior to Stenberg v. Carhart, thirty states, including Nebraska, had outlawed the barbaric practice of partial birth abortion.
“Partial birth abortion is an execution procedure in which a partially born child is killed by removing the child’s brain,” Stenberg said. “In today’s world, only the beheading of helpless captives by radical Islamic extremists comes close to matching the cruelty and unspeakable horror of a partial birth abortion.”
According to Stenberg, the Court gave two reasons for declaring Nebraska’s partial birth abortion statute unconstitutional in Stenberg v. Carhart:
1) That it could be interpreted to prohibit abortions other than partial birth abortions; and
2) There was no health exception for the mother.
“In my opinion, the Supreme Court, in a 5 – 4 decision, will uphold the federal ban on partial birth abortions by saying two things.
1) That the federal law bans only partial birth abortions; and
2) That no health exception is required because there is always a medically safe alternative to a partial birth abortion,” Stenberg said.
“If my prediction proves to be correct, it will underscore the enormous importance of the appointment and confirmation of Justices to the U.S. Supreme Court who will respect the Constitution and not legislate from the bench,” he said.
Stenberg noted a portion of Justice Scalia’s dissent in Stenberg v. Carhart: ‘“I am optimistic enough to believe that, one day, Stenberg v. Carhart will be assigned its rightful place in the history of this Court’s jurisprudence beside Korematsu and Dred Scott.”’
“Thanks to President Bush’s two Supreme Court appointments, Justice Scalia’s prediction is about to come true,” Stenberg said. “And it is important to remember, that if the Democrats, with Ben Nelson’s help, gain control of the U.S. Senate in this fall’s election that Justices like Roberts and Alito will not be confirmed in the future,” he said.
