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Legislative Alerts

Current Nebraska Legislation

LB 876, The Newborn Safe Haven Act, has advanced after the first round of debate with 38 votes!

Click here to see how your State Senator voted.

This life-affirming bill allows parents to surrender newborns, without intent to regain physical custody. It prohibits any prosecution for those complying with the Newborn Safe Haven Act.

Upon final passage and signature from Governor Pillen, this legislation will give parents an option to allow for their babies to be surrendered without fear of prosecution.

New Ballot Initiative called “Protect Women and Children“ has been released that seeks to amend the Nebraska Constitution to create a constitutional protection for preborn children in the second and third trimesters.

This initiative establishes a floor of protection, not a ceiling, meaning preborn children must, at a minimum, be protected by the second trimester, and stronger pro-life laws could still be passed going forward. If passed, Nebraska would be the first state in the nation to provide constitutional protection to preborn children in a state constitution.

This is consistent with what our legislature passed last year to prohibit abortion at 12 weeks and would ensure that our existing pro-life laws remain in place while we continue working to create a culture of life that provides love and support to every mother and child.

More info here: FACT SHEET

News Article: Nebraska Can – and Must – Stop the Abortion Industry’s New Ballot Initiative

Learn more about the Pro-Life vs. Pro-Abortion Ballot Initiatives on the ballot in November!

DID YOU KNOW NEBRASKA HAS A STATUTE SUPPORTING LIFE? READ IT HERE

Legislative Alerts

Current Federal Legislation

Roe v Wade Overturned!

• Supreme Court Decision: Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health – June 24, 2022

The Supreme Court of the United States overturned Roe v. Wade and Casey v. Planned Parenthood on Friday, undoing the decades old court rulings that forced states to legalize abortion up to at least 24 weeks of pregnancy. There is confusion about what this means. While overturning Roe is monumental, it isn’t the end of the pro-life fight. It is just the beginning.

“Roe was egregiously wrong from the start,” wrote Justice Alito in the majority opinion. “We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled. It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives.”

READ MORE HERE

• A Legal History of Roe v. Wade: VIDEO
• 26 States will likely prevent abortion if Roe is overturned

Care For Her Act

Congressman, Jeff Fortenberry, serving the 1st Congressional District of Nebraska, introduced his innovative Care For Her Act to ensure a community of care for the journey of life. He was joined by nine other cosponsors, including Congresswoman Young Kim (CA-39), Congresswoman María Elvira Salazar (FL-27), Congressman Blake Moore (UT -01, Congresswoman Jenniffer González-Colón (PR-AL), Congresswoman Elise Stefanik (NV-21), Congresswoman Liz Cheney (WY-AL), Congresswoman Claudia Tenney (NY-22), and Congresswoman Ann Wagner (MO-2)

“I am pleased that so many of my colleagues are joining with me to say we should be big enough and generous enough to care for a woman and her child who need help in times of vulnerability. This is our chance to support a woman with an unexpected pregnancy all the way through birth and child-rearing. Care for Her establishes a community of care for the journey of life,” Congressman Fortenberry said.

Fortenberry added “Care for Her ensures women know what services and support are available to them, including maternity housing, mentorship, and job training. It provides a tax credit to the pregnant mother with a pre-born child. And it provides performance incentives for communities that demonstrate improved maternal and child health outcomes.”

Text of Care for Her Act

Hyde Amendment

What is the Hyde Amendment? This amendment prohibits federal funding of abortions, and as a rider to the HHS appropriations bill, must be passed each year. There have been various iterations of the amendment’s language over the past 40 years, but the current version includes exceptions that allow Medicaid funds to be used for abortions in cases of rape, incest, or the health of the mother – but all other federal taxpayer funding of abortion is banned.

Is the Hyde Amendment Constitutional? Taxpayer funding of abortion by abandoning the Hyde Amendment is a significant shift and leap from Roe v. Wade that the government is not obligated to take. Roe did not establish a positive right to an abortion and therefore the government has no obligation to finance that abortion for any woman choosing to have one at any point in her pregnancy.

Does the Hyde Amendment expand restrictions on abortion? The Hyde Amendment has been a unique compromise by Americans on all sides of the abortion debate, declaring that because abortion is so controversial, our federal tax dollars should not be used to end unborn because of her poor financial status.

“For the People Act of 2021” – H.R. 1 passed in the U.S. House of Representatives Wednesday, March 3, 2021. The legislation now heads to the Senate. It will require 60 votes to advance. v HR1 would federalize and micromanage the election process, imposing unnecessary, unwise, and unconstitutional mandates on the state. v It would reverse the decentralization of the American election process – which is an essential protection of our liberty and freedom. v It would also implement nationwide the worst changes in election rules that occurred in 2020 and further damage or eliminate base security protocols.

H.R. 5 – “Equality Act of 2021” – H.R. 5 poses a significant pro-life threat. It amends the 1964 Civil Rights Act, adding language that could be used to make abortions more available, expand funding of abortion and weaken conscience protections for health care providers opposed to participating in abortion. v HR5 would give the government the power to dictate how Americans think and act regarding gender and sex. It would make discrimination the law of the land by forcing Americans to conform to government-mandated beliefs under the threat of life-ruining financial and criminal penalties.

SOURCE: https://nebraskarighttolife.org/legislation/

1991 Parental Notification

Requires at least one parent to be notified before an abortion can be performed on a minor 17 years or younger. A judicial bylaw exists to allow a judge to determine if a minor can seek an abortion without parental knowledge.

1993 Informed Consent

Requireseducation be provided to a person seeking an abortion on fetal development as well as informationon public and private agencies and services available to assist a person through pregnancy, upon childbirth, and while the child is dependent. These agencies/services include adoption agencies and agencies/services available to prevent unintended pregnancies. Over the years, additional educational tools have been added to the bill, such as ultrasound being available to the mother seeking abortion and a 24-hour waiting period once information is received.

1997 Ban on Partial-Birth Abortion

Bans the abortion procedure in which the person performing the abortion partially delivers vaginally a living unborn child before killing the unborn child and completing the delivery. Soon after the law was enacted, abortionist LeRoy Carhart of Bellevue sought a challenge through the courts, citing the law was unconstitutional. It was determined unconstitutional and was later taken to the U.S. Supreme Court, Stenberg vs. Carhart. The court found it to be unconstitutional, as there were no exceptions and would place an undue burden on a woman seeking an abortion. In 2003, Congress addressed the issues of the court, which led to a federal ban on this procedure.

2002 Assault on an Unborn Child Act

A person who commits the offense of assault of an unborn child during the commission of any criminal assault on a pregnant woman and recklessly causes serious bodily injury to her unborn childwould be charged with a Class I misdemeanor.

2004 Homicide of Unborn Child Act

Reclassifies manslaughter of an unborn child and 1st degree assault of an unborn child as a IIA felony. It defines murder of an unborn child in the 1st degree, murder in the second degree, manslaughter and motor vehicle homicide.

2009 Mother’s Right to See Her Unborn Child Ultrasound Law

Ensures a woman about to undergo an abortion has informed consent about the procedure. It stipulates the abortion facility must display the ultrasound screen to the woman, allowing her to determine whether or not she wants to see the screen. The burden will no longer be on the mother in a crisis situation to have to ask to view the screen.

2010 Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act

The first of its kind in the United States, the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act prohibits abortion after 20 weeks gestation except when the mother “has a condition which so complicates her medical condition as to necessitate the abortion of her pregnancy to avert death or to avert serious risk of substantial or irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function or…it is necessary to preserve the life of an unborn child.”

2011 Ban on Webcam Abortions

Extends the standard of care for abortion to provide that every abortion, whether chemical or surgical, is done by a licensed physician physically present in the same room as the pregnant woman or girl. Webcam abortions,which are done over a computer link, does not require a physician to be present at the time the chemical abortion is initiated.

2011 Parental Consent

Requires minors to provide notarized proof of consent from at least one parent or legal guardian before an abortion can be performed, except in certain medical emergencies, or unless the girl can prove her parents are abusive or that she is “sufficiently mature and well-informed” about the risks of abortion as determined by a judge.

2017 Compassionate Care for Medically Challenging Pregnancies Act

Addresses those families who are given a diagnosis of lethal fetal anomalies. It ensures that doctors fully equip women with information on perinatal hospice care at the time of a difficult diagnosis. Parents are made aware of resources and support services to assist in coping with the challenges they face.

2018 Ending Taxpayer Funding of Abortion

Governor Ricketts and the 2018 Legislature, while working with the state budget, ensured that state Title X funding would not be available to those agencies who provided and referred for abortion services.

2018 Non-viable Birth Certificates for Miscarried Children

Provides commemorative certificates to mothers who miscarry prior to the 20th week of pregnancy. It affirms the dignity of life and humanely acknowledges the loss that a mother undergoes through miscarriage.

2019 Abortion Reversal Pill Act

Bolsters the state’s informed consent protections. It requires doctors to direct women to information on how to reverse the abortion pill when the drug isprescribed. The chemical abortion, RU486, is a drug cocktail containing a two-pill process. Research indicates that mifepristone alone (first pill) is not always effective at ending a pregnancy. It provides information for those whomay change their mind and want to continue their pregnancy after taking mifepristone–letting them know it may not be too late.

2019 Ban on Dismemberment Abortion

Bans the use of an abortion process known as Dilation and Evacuation (D&E). The procedure involves slowly dilating a woman’s cervix then removing the unborn baby through dismemberment.

2023 “Preborn Child Protection Act”, an Amendment to the “Let Them Grow Act”

This bill offers protection to children at 12 weeks gestation in the state of Nebraska.  More info can be found here.