LINCOLN, Nebraska (LifeSiteNews) — The Nebraska Supreme Court voted 6-1 on Friday to uphold a law banning both elective abortions starting at 12 weeks as well as “gender transition” surgery on confused minors, ruling both could lawfully be covered in a single piece of legislation.
In May 2023, Nebraska Republican Gov. Jim Pillen signed the Let Them Grow Act, which prohibits abortion when “the probable gestational age of the pre-born child has been determined to be 12 or more weeks,” except for cases of rape, incest, or “medical emergency.” It also prohibits “gender-altering surgery” for minors, such as mastectomy or genital mutilation, tasked Nebraska’s chief medical officer Dr. Timothy Tesmer with establishing regulations concerning the use of puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones among minors (but does not prohibit them), and allows minors to sue medical providers for “transition” procedures done to them.
The far-left American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Planned Parenthood of the Heartland sued, claiming that covering both abortion and “transitions” violated the Nebraska Constitution’s single-subject rule. But the state’s highest court decided overwhelmingly that the law was valid, as both issues fell within the broader subject of “medical care,” ABC News reports.
“Ultimately, ‘if a bill has but one general object, no matter how broad that object may be, and contains no matter not germane thereto, and the title fairly expresses the subject of the bill, it does not violate’” the single-subject rule, Chief Justice Mike Heavican wrote, citing a precedent dating back to 1985.
“We worked overtime to bring that bill to my desk, and I give thanks to God that I had the privilege to sign it into law,” Pillen said in celebration of the ruling.
The bill was originally passed following the failure of a much stronger abortion ban that would have applied upon detection of a fetal heartbeat at six weeks. Nearly 94% of abortions occur prior to 13 weeks’ gestation, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC).
“We agree ideologically with those who want to protect babies at any stage in the womb,” Nebraska Right to Life executive director Sandy Danek said on Monday. “Nebraska Right to Life will continue to work toward the goal of protecting all life, from the moment of conception to natural death.”
Meanwhile, two abortion-related constitutional amendments have been proposed for possible inclusion on this fall’s ballot, one that would “amend the Nebraska Constitution to provide all persons the fundamental right [sic] to abortion without interference from the state or its political subdivisions until fetal viability,” with “health” exceptions after “viability” that could be interpreted broadly enough to authorize almost any abortion. It is also feared to threaten parental involvement laws as well as health and safety regulations.
The second would write into the Nebraska Constitution a prohibition on abortion in the second and third trimesters except for “medical emergency or when the pregnancy results from sexual assault or incest,” while not addressing early-term abortions. Supporters justified that omission as a temporary compromise to political necessity, while other pro-lifers backed a third proposal to state that a “preborn child at every stage of development is a person.” That amendment did not gain enough signatures by the deadline.
Fourteen states currently ban all or most abortions. But the abortion lobby is working feverishly to cancel out those deterrent effects by deregulated interstate distribution of abortion pills, legal protection and financial support of interstate abortion travel, constructing new abortion facilities near borders shared by pro-life and pro-abortion states, and making liberal states sanctuaries for those who want to evade or violate the laws of more pro-life neighbors, and embedding abortion “rights” in state constitutions.