Day O'Connor providing the swing vote for the five-to-four decision because the law did not allow for the use of the procedure even when the mother's health would be put at greater risk by another abortion procedure. Carhart is sued by a Virginia woman who suffered near fatal injuries during a 25 week gestation abortion. Carhart later filed suit against U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales seeking to strike down the 2003 Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, a federal law that is similar to the state law struck down in Stenberg, but while the Court did not officially reverse Stenberg, it upheld the federal ban as not imposing an undue burden on women, the test established in Planned Parenthood v. Casey. O'Connor's successor, Samuel Alito, sided with the four Justices who dissented in Stenberg, creating a five-to-four majority. References External links Carhart's statement after the Stenberg decision Text of the majority opinion https://www.law.com/radar/card/norris-v-carhart-jr-et-al-41971022-0/ Physicians from New Jersey American abortion providers Victims of anti-abortion violence in the United States Rutgers University alumni Drexel University alumni People from Omaha, Nebraska Living people 1941 births Nebraska Republicans United States Air Force colonels