In 2003 U.S. Congress passed the so-called "Partial Birth Abortion Act," which banned a specific medical procedure used to end a late-term pregnancy in tragic situations, frequently when the fetus has a deformity that will result in its death before or at birth. This law did not include an exception for the health of the woman, only an exception if her life was at risk.
The Supreme Court, packed now with five Catholics and only one woman, held that the law was Constitutional without an exception for health. Both O'Connor and Ginsburg have agreed that women bring a different viewpoint to the table, but perhaps the men would have reached another conclusion if they had experienced the choice this man faced.
