SW News: The American state of Nebraska has introduced a bill limiting abortion access. This effort comes two weeks after a bill banning abortions at around six weeks of pregnancy failed to overcome a filibuster.
The abortion restrictions were introduced in an amendment to legislation that would ban hormone treatments and gender reassignment surgeries for minors. The new change intends to prohibit abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy and it has drawn protests from opponents, to whom the speaker assured that the measure was dead for the session.
If passed, Legislative Bill 574, which calls for prohibiting gender treatment for gender-confused youth, will also include an abortion ban. A bill prohibiting abortion if heart activity was detected failed to receive the votes required to finish the debate last month. However, the legislation has now been reintroduced as an amendment by Senator Ben Hansen, which has attracted harsh criticism from the opponents.
The new legislation came as a compromise against the backdrop of the six-week abortion ban bill. This was introduced by Senator Merv Riepe, who later raised concern stating that the six-week ban was extreme. Riepe then withheld his vote on the motion, which caused the abortion bill to be defeated.
While Riepe's proposal made an exemption for abortions in case of fatal fetal deformities, Hansen's measure does not. Instead, it includes exceptions for rape, incest, and the mother's life. The new proposal also penalizes doctors who conduct abortions outside the exceptions mentioned.
Meanwhile, Hansen's proposal will also outlaw surgeries for gender-confused youth and charge the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services with monitoring hormone therapy and puberty blockers. Gender-confused people with such treatment before the law's implementation would not be affected.