Republican Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen signed a bill Monday that restricts abortion at 12 weeks of pregnancy and outlaws “gender-affirming care” for minors.
Pillen signed the bill after the state’s unicameral legislature approved the bill with a supermajority vote of 33-15 on Friday, overcoming a filibuster.
LB574, also called the “Let Them Grow Act” was introduced initially as a bill to prohibit sex transition surgeries and restrict puberty blockers and hormone treatments for Nebraskans under 19.
However, Republican state Sen. Ben Hansen introduced an amendment to the bill last week that included the prohibition on abortion procedures after 12 weeks. The abortion amendment provides exceptions after 12 weeks for cases of rape, incest, or to protect the mother’s life.
Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen speaks Wednesday, April 12, 2023, in support of a bill that would ban abortion once cardiac activity can be detected in an embryo, which is generally around the sixth week of pregnancy, during an anti-abortion rally on the steps of the Nebraska state Capitol in Lincoln, Neb. (AP Photo/Margery Beck)
The abortion restrictions went into effect immediately, and the ban on “gender-affirming care” will take effect on October 1.
Pillen issued a statement following the bill’s passage, calling it the “most significant win for social conservatives in a generation.”
“Today is a historic day in the State of Nebraska. It is a day where we are standing up and protecting our kids so that they can have a better and brighter future,” Pillen said.
“LB574 is the most significant win for social conservatives in a generation, and is part of what has been a historic legislative session with senators voting for policies that protect our kids, cut taxes, grow agriculture, and defend our Nebraska values.”
Nebraska had not passed a new abortion restriction since 2010, “when it became the first state to limit the procedure at around 20 weeks of pregnancy,” according to the Associated Press.
Republican state Sen. Joni Albrecht released a statement saying she “look[s] forward to the day when every child is protected from conception from elective abortions in the State of Nebraska.” In late April, a fetal heartbeat bill that would have outlawed abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, with exceptions for rape, incest, or to save the life of the mother, notably stalled in the legislature.
The state is also now among at least 18 states that have passed laws restricting or banning transgender hormones and procedures for minors. Proposals are pending before the governors of Missouri and Texas, according to AP.
According to the report, “opponents have promised to sue to try to block the law.”
“The head of the American Civil Liberties Union of Nebraska, Mindy Rush Chipman, said in a statement that ‘every option is on the table to undo these regressive measures,'” the report states.
Planned Parenthood, which runs two of three abortion clinics in the state, called the new law “heartbreaking.”
“It’s heartbreaking that we have to tell patients that they cannot receive their health care here in Nebraska anymore,” said Andi Curry Grubb, Nebraska executive director for Planned Parenthood North Central States.
The Nebraska Legislature voted 33-14 to end debate on a bill that bans abortion at 12 weeks and gender-affirming care for minors, Friday, May 19, 2023 in Lincoln, Neb. The bill went on to pass and will be signed into law by Gov. Jim Pillen. (AP Photo/Margery Beck)
But pro-life leaders view the bill as a “significant step forward for life.”
“Three hundred lives will be protected each year through the Let Them Grow Act,” SBA Pro-Life America’s Western Regional Director Adam Schwend estimated in a statement via email. “Each of these children will bless countless others by being a son or daughter, grandchild, friend, classmate and colleague, and Nebraska will be better off through the lives they will be allowed to live.”
Students for Life Action President Kristan Hawkins called the bill a “small step in the right direction.”
“Life is winning in America,” Hawkins said via email. “We’ll be back to work with Pro-Life Champions on Life at Conception legislation in Nebraska next spring, but today’s victory is a small step in the right direction to change the culture surrounding the preborn and defending life at the earliest stages possible.”
Nebraska’s passage of a 12-week abortion restriction comes a week after the North Carolina legislature overrode North Carolina Democrat Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto of a similar bill restriction abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy. In that case, the state House voted 72-48 to override Cooper’s veto shortly after the state Senate voted 30-20 to do the same.
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