LINCOLN, Neb. — The Nebraska Legislature on Friday passed a 12-week abortion ban and restrictions on gender-affirming care for children in a move so contentious that lawmakers on both sides have said they may not be able to work together in the future. .
Conservative lawmakers wrestled enough votes to end a filibuster and pass a bill containing both measures. Republican Gov. Jim Pillen, who sponsored the bill and met with several lawmakers to rally support, has vowed to sign it into law.
The mood in the Nebraska Capitol has been volatile since lawmakers approved by a single vote Tuesday the hybrid measure bundling the restrictions that Republicans across the United States have been pushing. Nebraska lawmakers traded insults and vows of revenge, while protesters loudly voiced their discontent.
Friday’s debate was halted briefly when protesters on a chamber balcony stood up and yelled obscenities at Conservative lawmakers while throwing what appeared to be bloody tampons to the ground. Security arrested at least one person and cleared the balconies. As lawmakers began voting, chants of “Shame on you! Pity! Pity! Too bad!» could be heard coming from outside the chamber.
North Carolina also passed a 12-week abortion ban this week, among a series of restrictions enacted in states after the US Supreme Court last year struck down Roe v. Wade Act of 1973 that established the right to abortion throughout the country. Fourteen states now have pregnancy bans.
Nebraska, which currently bans abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy, had not passed a new ban. The 12-week ban includes exceptions for rape, incest and to save the mother’s life.
The bill would also prevent transgender people under the age of 19 from undergoing any gender confirmation surgery. The state’s chief medical officer, a political appointee who is currently an ear, nose and throat doctor, would set the rules for puberty blockers and hormone therapies. There would be some exceptions for minors who were already receiving treatment before the ban was enacted.
At least 17 states have enacted laws restricting or prohibiting gender-affirming health care for minors, and proposals are pending before the governors of Texas and Missouri. Medical groups and advocates say such restrictions are further marginalizing transgender youth and threatening their health.
Omaha Senator Machaela Cavanaugh led an effort to block nearly every bill this session, even the ones she supported, to protest proposed restrictions on gender-affirming care. She criticized conservatives who voted for the hybrid bill, warning that individuals, medical professionals and businesses will leave the state for it.
Cavanaugh declared in early March that she would «burn down this bill,» and she and a handful of progressive allies complied. They introduced hundreds of amendments and motions to delay every bill at every stage of debate, impeding the work of the Legislature and sending leaders scrambling to prioritize which bills to pass.
After lawmakers merged the abortion limits with the transgender health bill, Cavanaugh clashed with Sen. Julie Slama, who suggested that conservatives were supporting restrictions on gender-affirming care to retaliate against Cavanaugh. Slama noted that the restrictions did not initially have the 33 votes needed to survive.
“But then Machaela Cavanaugh stood up and opened her mouth because she was delighted that the national media was here to give her more attention,” Slama said. «So that gave us 33 votes.»
Cavanaugh responded that conservatives would «have a hard time» with only days left in session for lawmakers to pass bills.
«I’m going to take all the time. Every lonely minute to make sure that the speaker has to decide what is actually going to be scheduled in these final days,” she said.
Conservatives in the officially nonpartisan single-chamber Legislature announced earlier this month that they would amend the trans health bill to introduce restrictions on abortion. That unconventional move came after the Conservatives failed to advance a bill that would have banned abortion once heart activity can be detected, usually around six weeks into the pregnancy, before many women know they are pregnant. they are pregnant.
Legislative rules state that a bill that does not defeat a filibuster must be introduced for the year. So opponents were shocked when the Tories announced a plan for a 12-week ban. Progressive lawmakers say it was a covert way to impose a ban after the issue had already failed. Conservatives say the ban is a compromise.
Because an emergency clause is attached to the bill, it will take effect once signed by the governor.