Nebraska passes bans on abortion after 12 weeks and gender-affirming care for minors

Conservatives in the Nebraska legislature won just enough votes Friday to pass a combined ban on abortion at 12 weeks and gender-affirming treatment for minors, amid continuing protests at the Capitol.

The bill was a gamble that could have seen both issues shelved for the year, had it failed to win the 33 votes needed to end debate. Instead, conservatives’ novel legislation, billed as a compromise, passed by a vote of 33 to 15, swaying holdout Republican state Sen. Merv Riepe, who voted for it after blocking a proposed six-week abortion ban last month.

Sen. Kathleen Kauth, one of the bill’s authors, said it was not motivated by hate but designed to protect transgender youths.

“This bill is and always has been about protecting children. It does not discriminate,” Kauth said, insisting the measure was meant to delay “irreversible, experimental medications and surgeries.”

“This bill is simply about protecting innocent life,” said Sen. Tom Briese, calling the bill a “reasonable” compromise.

But opponents condemned the law as unconstitutional and discriminatory.

“This place is morally bankrupt. You are playing political games with the lives of children and parents,” said Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh (D).

Friday’s vote followed the 49-member Republican-dominated legislature’s interim approval of the measure Tuesday. Gov. Jim Pillen (R) has said he will sign the bill. The abortion ban will take effect immediately; the transgender care restrictions will begin as of Oct. 1.

The 12-week abortion ban includes exceptions for rape, incest and to save the life of the mother, but not for fatal fetal anomalies. It does not protect doctors who perform abortions from criminal prosecution.

The transgender measure bans gender reassignment surgery for those under age 19, Nebraska’s age of majority. It gives the state’s chief medical officer - an ear, nose and throat doctor appointed by the Republican governor - authority over the use of gender-affirming treatments for transgender minors as of October.

While the bill contains an exception for minors already receiving puberty blockers or hormone treatments, opponents questioned whether they would be protected given the bill grants ultimate authority to a conservative political appointee. Efforts to amend the bill to address that were rejected by conservatives.

The 12-week abortion ban did not go as far as some in the chamber desired. And an earlier bill on medical treatment for transgender people would have barred minors from receiving puberty blockers, hormone therapy and surgeries. But after extensive debate and “listening sessions” with opponents, Republicans scaled back their goals to win support needed to pass the bill.

While the bill’s double-barreled nature is unique, restrictions on abortion and transgender people have been popular conservative targets in state legislatures this year. Since Roe v. Wade was overturned in June, more than a dozen states have banned abortion.

This week in North Carolina, a Republican supermajority in the legislature overrode the Democratic governor’s veto to pass a 12-week ban. In April, Florida passed a six-week ban, which will outlaw most abortions in the country’s third most populous state.

More than a dozen states have also passed restrictions on transgender people this year, including Florida and North Carolina. Texas’s Republican-controlled legislature on Wednesday approved a bill banning hormone and puberty blocking treatments as well as surgeries for transgender minors. The bill would force the state medical board to revoke physician licenses for those who violate the ban, and it would prohibit taxpayer funds from going to any person or entity that “provides or facilitates” the treatment. Gov. Greg Abbott (R) has said he will sign the measure.

The erosion of transgender rights has been particularly alarming in Nebraska, the bill’s opponents said. It was here that Brandon Teena, a transgender man, was raped and killed in 1993, a murder that spawned the film “Boys Don’t Cry” and lobbying for LGBTQ hate crimes laws nationwide.

“The combination of these two bills is an unprecedented attack on our human and civil rights here in Nebraska,” said Mindy Rush Chipman, who is interim executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Nebraska and joined protesters at the Capitol on Friday.

In a statement after the vote, she said the organization was “exploring our options to address the harm of this extreme legislation.”

“This is not over, not by a long shot,” she said.

Opponents of the Nebraska bill in the single-chamber legislature accused conservatives of breaking the rules to pander to their base, rushing an abortion ban that would imperil even well-meaning doctors.

“You could ensnare a medical provider who is trying to follow the law,” Sen. Danielle Conrad said.

The fight led many on both sides of the bill to break with traditions of Midwestern civility that had often allowed them to avoid divisive national politics in the past. Instead, they waged a fierce, emotional and often deeply personal floor debate about the bill.

Sen. Megan Hunt, an independent with a 12-year-old transgender son, alternately castigated and pleaded with the bill’s supporters to relent, at times crying openly.

“We are in the midst of a time of unprecedented violence for LGBTQ people in our country,” she said. “We are working to fight for rights that we have already won.”

Sen. Brad von Gillern (R) accused Hunt and the bill’s other opponents of lying and hate-mongering.

“You are the epitome of what you claim to be fighting against,” he said.

Hundreds of protesters filled the Capitol rotunda outside the legislature, nearly drowning out lawmakers at times with chants, shouts and foot stomping. The chamber’s glass doors were locked, protesters prevented from displaying signs nearby as extra state troopers patrolled. When shouts erupted in the gallery during debate, Lt. Gov. Joe Kelly - who presides over the legislature - called a temporary recess and directed security to clear the gallery.

“It’s not what democracy looks like. It’s what corruption looks like,” said Cavanaugh, accusing the bill’s supporters of being “bought by the governor.”

Cavanaugh, aided by liberal colleagues, had attempted to block the bill with an epic filibuster of nearly every other piece of legislation this year, which she has vowed to continue next session.

On Friday, she shouted as she chanted along with protesters outside in the rotunda, “Trans people belong here, we need trans people, we love trans people!”

“This does not end today for any of us,” Cavanaugh said Friday. “This is just the beginning.”

She mentioned a national hotline run by the Trevor Project, an LGBTQ suicide prevention nonprofit, and urged those struggling as they watched the debate to call.

“Nebraska is watching. The country is watching today and a lot of people are in pain,” she said, later adding that she looked forward to seeing supporters of the bill voted out of office.

“The people will remember today.”