By the time this column is read, the Nebraska Legislature will have completed 43 legislative days out of the 60 days in this “short” session of the 103rd Legislature. Each Legislature has a two year cycle with the first year’s session lasting 90 legislative (not calendar) days and the second year’s session lasting 60 legislative days.
Every bill introduced is assigned to a committee and receives a public hearing. Following the hearing, with rare exceptions a bill must receive a majority vote by the committee members to advance to the full Legislature for debate and voting.
Most bills related to abortion are assigned to the Judiciary Committee. The Committee is currently chaired by Sen. Brad Ashford (Omaha) and has seven additional members: Sen. Ernie Chambers (Omaha), Sen. Steve Lathrop (Omaha), Sen. Amanda McGill (Lincoln), Sen. Al Davis (Hyannis), Sen. Les Seiler (Hastings), Sen. Mark Christensen (Imperial) and Sen. Colby Coash (Lincoln).
During last year’s long session, two bills supported by pro-life groups, LB 300 and LB 564, were introduced and received public hearings by the Judiciary Committee. LB 300 updates Nebraska’s informed consent for abortion law by requiring the Department of Health & Human Services website to link to a website that provides 4-D ultrasound images of fetal development and directs abortion facilities to include a link to the DHHS informed consent web page on their websites.
LB 564 would protect the right of health care providers and health care facilities to decline to participate in any health care function that violates their respective consciences. Neither bill was able to get sufficient votes last year to advance to the full Legislature and consequently carried over to this year’s session. Despite continued efforts since last year’s session, the pro-life lobby has not been able to get either bill advanced from the Judiciary Committee.
During this year’s session, three new abortion related bills were introduced. The pro-life lobby supports one bill (LB 1032) and opposes the other two bills (LB 1108 and LB 1109). LB 1032, introduced by Sen. Bill Kintner, would require abortion facilities to post a conspicuous sign notifying women that it is against the law for anyone to force them to have an abortion.
At the Feb. 27 public hearing, the Judiciary Committee heard compelling testimony by three individuals who experienced some level of coercion to obtain abortions. Each of them said that seeing a posted sign about coercion may have made a difference in extricating them from the situation of pressure that drove them to abortion.
In my letter to the Committee expressing support for LB 1032, I said “If there is one aspect in the debate over abortion for which there should be no disagreement by either side, it is that no woman should be coerced or pressured to have an abortion. There is evidence from groups on both sides of the abortion debate that there is more coercion in abortion decisions than most Americans would think.
“One study published in the Medical Science Monitor, found 64 percent of women studied felt pressured by others to abort. Even if the number pressured is half or one-quarter of what this study found, that equates to 150,000 to 300,000 women who seek abortions in the United States feeling some level of pressure to abort their children. This should be equally disturbing whether one identifies as pro-life or pro-choice.”
Unfortunately, even this modest bill is struggling to muster a majority of support by Judiciary Committee members. So far, only Sen. Colby Coash, Sen. Mark Christensen, and Sen. Al Davis have indicated support for the bill. I encourage readers to contact the other members of the Judiciary Committee and urge them to support this bill—especially if you are a constituent of one of the Committee members. Senator contact information (and bill information) is online at www.nebraskalegislature.gov.
The two bills opposed by the pro-life lobby were introduced by Sen Danielle Conrad (Lincoln). LB 1108 would undermine Nebraska’s law requiring parental consent before a minor can obtain an abortion. LB 1109 would replace the parental consent requirement with a less effective parental notification requirement. Neither bill was prioritized which makes it highly unlikely that either bill will advance.
