LeRoy Harrison Carhart (born 1941) is an American
physician
A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...
from
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
best known for performing abortions late in pregnancy. He became famous for his participation in the
Supreme Court
A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
cases ''
Stenberg v. Carhart
''Stenberg v. Carhart'', 530 U.S. 914 (2000), was a landmark decision of the US Supreme Court dealing with a Nebraska law which made performing " partial-birth abortion" illegal, without regard for the health of the mother. Nebraska physicians wh ...
'' and ''
Gonzales v. Carhart
''Gonzales v. Carhart'', 550 U.S. 124 (2007), was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court that upheld the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003. The case reached the high court after U.S. Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales, appealed a rul ...
'', both of which dealt with
intact dilation and extraction
Intact dilation and extraction (D&X, IDX, or intact D&E) is a surgical procedure that removes an intact fetus from the uterus. The procedure is used both after miscarriages and for abortions in the second and third trimesters of pregnancy.
In ...
(also known as "partial-birth abortion"). A former Republican, he was one of the four subjects of the 2013 documentary ''
After Tiller
''After Tiller'' is a 2013 documentary film directed by Martha Shane and Lana Wilson that follows the only four remaining doctors in the United States who openly perform abortions in the third trimester of pregnancy. In 2015, ''After Tiller'' wo ...
''.
Biography
Carhart trained as a physician in the
U.S. Air Force
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Sign ...
, and retired from the force with the rank of lieutenant colonel.
He is a graduate of
Rutgers University
Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's ...
, and a 1973 graduate of Hahnemann University School of Medicine (now
Drexel University College of Medicine
Drexel University College of Medicine is the medical school of Drexel University, a private research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The medical school represents the consolidation of two medical schools: the first U.S. medical school f ...
).
Medical practice
After 21 years as a surgeon in the Air Force, Carhart opened a walk-in emergency clinic in Omaha in 1985.
On September 6, 1991, the day of the passage of the Nebraska Parental Notification Law,
arson
Arson is the crime of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, wat ...
ists targeted Carhart's farm, setting fire to his home and a 48-stall barn, along with two other buildings and numerous vehicles. The attack killed two family pets and 21 horses. The fire, which had started in seven different locations on Carhart's property, was never declared arson and no one was prosecuted. Carhart stated that he received a note the morning after the fire claiming responsibility and likening the deaths of his animals to the "murder of children". At the time of the fire, abortions had been a small part of Carhart's surgical practice; afterwards, determined not to "cede a victory to the antis", Carhart began performing abortions full-time.
In February 2013, a 29-year-old woman who had been 33 weeks pregnant with a medically abnormal fetus died a day after a four-day abortion procedure at Carhart's clinic in Germantown. The medical examiner listed the causes of death as "
amniotic fluid embolism
An amniotic fluid embolism (AFE) is a very uncommon childbirth ( obstetric) emergency in which amniotic fluid enters the blood stream of the mother, triggering a serious reaction, which results in cardiorespiratory (heart and lung) collapse and ...
following a medical termination of pregnancy",
disseminated intravascular coagulation and fetal abnormalities. The Maryland Board of Physicians found that Carhart was not responsible for the death. The board’s letter followed an investigation by state health officials that reported there were "no deficiencies" in Carhart’s handling of the situation, and that the death could have happened during birth as well.
Court cases
Carhart filed suit against the
Nebraska Attorney General
The Nebraska Attorney General is the chief law enforcement officer and lawyer for the U.S. state of Nebraska.
List of attorneys general
;Parties
Notes
ReferencesAG Office document(cached)
External links
Nebraska Attorney Generalofficial ...
,
Don Stenberg
Don Stenberg (born September 30, 1948) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 31st Attorney General of Nebraska from 1991 to 2003 and 43rd Treasurer of Nebraska from 2011 to 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he previously ...
, because a
Nebraska law
Nebraska () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas ...
banned a form of
abortion
Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pregn ...
,
dilation and extraction (D&X). In ''
Stenberg v. Carhart
''Stenberg v. Carhart'', 530 U.S. 914 (2000), was a landmark decision of the US Supreme Court dealing with a Nebraska law which made performing " partial-birth abortion" illegal, without regard for the health of the mother. Nebraska physicians wh ...
'' the United States Supreme Court struck down the Nebraska law with
Sandra Day O'Connor
Sandra Day O'Connor (born March 26, 1930) is an American retired attorney and politician who served as the first female associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1981 to 2006. She was both the first woman nominated and th ...
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
The United States attorney general (AG) is the head of the United States Department of Justice, and is the chief law enforcement officer of the federal government of the United States. The attorney general serves as the principal advisor to the p ...
Alberto Gonzales seeking to strike down the 2003
, a
federal law
Federal law is the body of law created by the federal government of a country. A federal government is formed when a group of political units, such as states or provinces join in a federation, delegating their individual sovereignty and many po ...
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''.
''Gonzales v. Carhart'' opinions
(in PDF
Portable Document Format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems. ...
). O'Connor's successor, Samuel Alito
Samuel Anthony Alito Jr. ( ; born April 1, 1950) is an American lawyer and jurist who serves as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was nominated by President George W. Bush on October 31, 2005, and has served ...
, 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
*https://www.law.com/radar/card/norris-v-carhart-jr-et-al-41971022-0/
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carhart, Leroy
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