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The law bans most abortions after 12 weeks and restricts gender-affirming care for trans people under 19.
The Nebraska Supreme Court has upheld a state law banning most abortions after 12 weeks and restricting gender-affirming care for transgender people under 19.
Planned Parenthood of the Heartland and its medical director, Dr. Sarah Traxler, had sued over the law. They were represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Nebraska, and Powers Law. They argued that the law, Legislative Bill 574, violates the Nebraska constitution, which stipulates that any piece of legislation should deal with one subject only.
Lancaster County District Court Judge Lori Maret dismissed their suit last August, and they appealed to the state Supreme Court. The high court ruled Friday that the law doesn’t violate the constitution because both of its subjects deal with health care.
Because the suit was filed at the state level, the Nebraska Supreme Court’s ruling is the final word on it. Asked if there were plans to file a federal suit, ACLU of Nebraska Executive Director Mindy Rush-Chipman said in a Friday press conference that various options were under consideration.
The trans care restrictions had been subject to a filibuster led by Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh, who vowed to block every bill pending in Nebraska’s one-chamber, officially nonpartisan legislature in order to keep the anti-trans measure from passing. However, her fellow lawmakers eventually overcame that filibuster. The legislature folded the 12-week abortion ban into the anti-trans bill and passed the combined measure in May 2023. Republican Gov. Jim Pillen signed it into law within days. The abortion ban took effect immediately, and the trans care regulations went into effect October 1.
The anti-trans provisions ban surgery, both genital and nongenital, for the purpose of gender transition for anyone under 19. An earlier form of LB 574 would have banned puberty blockers and hormone treatment as well as surgery. Genital surgeries are almost never performed on minors. However, the legislation gave the state’s chief medical officer, appointed by the governor, the power to regulate use of puberty blockers and hormones.
Under Nebraska Chief Medical Officer Timothy Tesmer's regulations, patients under the age of 19 are required to undergo 40 “gender-identity-focused contact hours of therapy” before receiving puberty blockers or hormone therapy. These counseling sessions are supposedly meant to "be clinically objective and non-biased," but are explicitly required to “not merely affirm the patient’s beliefs.” Patients have to undergo further counseling while receiving the treatment.
Mental health counseling is always a part of gender-affirming care, but these regulations go far beyond what health professionals normally recommend and put up barriers to care, especially for low- and middle-income families, Abbi Swatsworth, executive director of OutNebraska, said in the press conference. OutNebraska has partnered with the Trans Youth Emergency Project to help Nebraska families access care, both in the state and elsewhere.
Planned Parenthood officials pointed out that abortion is still legal in Nebraska up to the 12th week of pregnancy. After that, an abortion may be performed only if the pregnancy results from rape or incest, or if it poses a threat to the pregnant person's life. A coalition called Protect Our Rights is seeking to put a measure on the November ballot that would write abortion rights into the Nebraska Constitution. The coalition has gathered 207,000 petition signatures out of the 123,000 it needed to get the question on the ballot, and the secretary of state's office is in the process of verifying them.
Anti-abortion activists are trying to put a measure on the ballot as well. It would amend the state constitution to ban abortions after the first trimester except in cases of a medical emergency or if the pregnancy was caused by incest or sexual assault.
