On March 4, 1999, Judge Porteous permanently enjoined Louisiana's statute determining that the law was unconstitutional because it places an undue burden on a woman's right to choose abortion, lacks an adequate health exception, is vague, and bans virtually all safe pre-viability abortions. In the time since the case was argued before the court of appeals on March 2, 2000, the U.S. Supreme Court has struck down a Nebraska ban on so-called "partial-birth abortion," finding it an unconstitutional violation of Roe v. Wade.

In addition to the Fifth Circuit's ruling on the Louisiana statute, several other "partial-birth abortion" statutes have been found unconstitutional in light of Stenberg v. Carhart: Alaska, Florida, Virginia, and West Virginia. The lower courts based their rulings on the Supreme Court's finding that the Nebraska law was so broad as to constitute an undue burden on a woman's right to an abortion and did not contain an exception for a woman's health.

"The Fifth Circuit's decision confirms what we have said all along: that the Louisiana ban is deceptive and extreme," said Janet Crepps, a Staff Attorney for the Center for Reproductive Law and Policy, a legal advocacy organization that represents the plaintiffs. "We hope that with this decision the women of Louisiana will remain secure from those who would jeopardize women's health and deny their reproductive rights."