No. 18-837October Term 2018Decided Jun 28, 2019
Harris v. West Alabama Women's Center
This case concerns Alabama’s ban on the abortion procedure opponents call “dismemberment abortion,” a law challenged by abortion providers as unconstitutional.
Case status
- Current stage
- Decided
- Latest event
- Decision released Jun 28, 2019
- What it's about
This case concerns Alabama’s ban on the abortion procedure opponents call “dismemberment abortion,” a law challenged by abortion providers as unconstitutional. The dispute asks whether the state may prohibit that procedure when there is claimed to be reasonable medical disagreement about whether other methods are safe and available.
Question presented
Whether the Eleventh Circuit correctly held that a ban on the “usual abortion method in [the second] trimester,” Gonzales, 550 U.S. at 135, is unconstitutional as applied to Respondents, where all three of the proposed means for complying with the law are not feasible and would subject women to significant health risks?
- Case path
United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit / Decision released Jun 28, 2019
- Area
Decided Supreme Court case
Timing
Decided June 28, 2019
The Court released its decision on June 28, 2019 without hearing oral argument.
Documents
Related cases
Grounding
- Grounding
- Primary-source trail available.
- Note
- Plain-English explainer. Official filings and opinions remain authoritative.
- Checked
- Jun 1, 2026
- Method
- Methodology