March 13, 2001 
            031301Abortion Provider Fights University Dismissal
            By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS                 

            LINCOLN, Neb., March 12 (AP) — A doctor whose challenge to a state 
            abortion law led the United States Supreme Court to overturn it told 
            a judge today that the University of Nebraska wrongfully terminated 
            his faculty position because of political pressure.
            The doctor, LeRoy Carhart, performed abortions and donated fetal 
            tissue to the university for research. After it was reported in 
            November 1999 that the university was using fetal tissue in 
            research, Dr. Carhart said, school officials told him they were 
            under increasing pressure to have him resign or to terminate his 
            unpaid position.
            He said Dr. Howard Gendelman, director of the university medical 
            center's neurological research center, told him the pressure came 
            from the office of Gov. Mike Johanns, some members of the university 
            Board of Regents and some legislators.
            Dr. Carhart's testimony came at a federal court hearing on his 
            request for an injunction ordering his reinstatement pending a trial 
            on his lawsuit against university officials. No trial date has been 
            set. He is also seeking unspecified damages.
            Last summer, acting on a lawsuit filed by Dr. Carhart in 1997, the 
            Supreme Court voted 5 to 4 to strike down a Nebraska law banning the 
            procedure that opponents call partial-birth abortion. The court said 
            the law, similar to ones in 29 other states, imposed an "undue 
            burden" on a woman's right to end her pregnancy because it lacked an 
            exemption to preserve a woman's health.
            Dr. Carhart, of Bellevue, says university officials violated his 
            constitutional rights by terminating his position at the medical 
            center because he challenged the law and because of an uproar over 
            the university's use of fetal tissue for research.
            David Buntain, a lawyer representing the university, denied that the 
            termination was politically motivated.
            Another university lawyer, Richard Wood, has said the medical center 
            terminated 30 temporary faculty members last year, including Dr. 
            Carhart, because their appointments were in departments outside 
            their area of expertise. Dr. Carhart had been appointed to the 
            department of pathology and microbiology.
            Mr. Wood said that those 30 faculty members were told they could 
            reapply to a position dealing with their area of practice and that 
            Dr. Carhart did not do so.