OMAHA, Neb. (AP) 鈥� A Nebraska law that combined abortion restrictions with another measure to limit gender-affirming health care for minors does not violate a state constitutional amendment requiring bills to stick to a single subject, a majority of the Nebraska Supreme Court ruled Friday.
The state鈥檚 high court acknowledged in its ruling that abortion and gender-affirming care 鈥渁re distinct types of medical care,鈥� but found the law does not violate Nebraska鈥檚 single-subject rule because both abortion and transgender health fall under the subject of medical care.
The majority relied, in part, on a passage from an 1895 ruling to find the state constitution offers wide latitude on what composes a single subject.
鈥淯ltimately, 鈥榠f a bill has but one general object, no matter how broad that object may be, and contains no matter not germane thereto, and the title fairly expresses the subject of the bill, it does not violate鈥欌�� the state constitution's single-subject rule, Chief Justice Mike Heavican wrote for the court.
The ruling came in a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union representing Planned Parenthood of the Heartland challenging the law that has restricted abortion to 12 weeks of pregnancy, banned gender-confirming surgery and restricted the use of hormone treatments in transgender minors since 2023. The high court rejected arguments by ACLU attorneys which argued the passed last year violates Nebraska鈥檚 single subject rule.
Republican lawmakers in the officially nonpartisan Nebraska Legislature had originally proposed separate bills: An abortion ban at about and a bill restricting gender-affirming treatment for minors. The GOP-dominated Legislature to the existing gender-affirming care bill only after the six-week ban failed to defeat a filibuster.
The combination law was the Nebraska Legislature鈥檚 most controversial in the 2023 session, and its gender-affirming care restrictions triggered an in which a handful of lawmakers sought to block every bill for the duration of that session 鈥� even ones they supported 鈥� in an effort to stymie it.
A district judge last August, and the ACLU .
In arguments before the high court in March, an attorney for the state insisted the combined abortion- and transgender-care measures did not violate the state鈥檚 single subject rule, because both fall under the subject of health care.
But an attorney for Planned Parenthood argued that the Legislature recognized abortion and transgender care as separate subjects by introducing them as separate bills at the beginning of last year鈥檚 session.
鈥淚t pushed them together only when it was constrained to do so,鈥� ACLU attorney Matt Segal argued.
A scathing dissent by Justice Lindsey Miller-Lerman accused the majority of applying different standards to bills passed by the Legislature and those sought by voter referendum. She pointed to the high court's ruling in 2020 that blocked a ballot initiative seeking to legalize medical marijuana after finding that its provisions to allow people to use marijuana and to produce it were separate subjects that violated the state鈥檚 single-subject rule.
Miller-Herman chastised the majority for granting leeway and indulging the Legislature 鈥渁t the expense of the Constitution.鈥�
鈥淚t was the duty of the Legislature ... to compose legislation, including titling, which stated 鈥榦ne subject鈥�; failure to so compose renders the bill unconstitutional,鈥� Miller-Lerman wrote. 鈥淚t is not the role of this court to rescue legislative bills.鈥�
Opponents decried the ruling, with the ACLU Nebraska Executive Director Mindy Rush Chipman vowing the ruling 鈥渨ill not be the final word on abortion access and the rights of trans youth and their families in Nebraska.鈥�
Ruth Richardson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood North Central States, called the ruling 鈥渉eart-wrenching and infuriating鈥� and said Planned Parenthood would continue providing abortions in Nebraska up to 12 weeks of pregnancy.
"This ban has already devastated Nebraskans鈥� lives and will undoubtedly widen dangerous health inequities for people in rural areas, people of color, people with low incomes and young people,鈥� she said.
Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen and the state's attorney general, both Republicans, lauded the ruling. Pillen noted in a statement that he had worked with lawmakers to fold the 12-week abortion ban into the bill restricting gender-affirming care for minors.
鈥淲e worked overtime to bring that bill to my desk, and I give thanks to God that I had the privilege to sign it into law,鈥� Pillen said.
Most Republican-controlled states have implemented abortion bans of some sort since the U.S. Supreme Court and ended the nationwide right to abortion in 2022.
Fourteen states currently have bans on abortion at all stages of pregnancy, with some exceptions; three ban it after about six weeks鈥� gestational age, before many women know they are pregnant, with a fourth such restriction, in , expected to take effect next week. Nebraska and North Carolina are the only states that have moved to bans that kick in after 12 weeks of pregnancy.
Most GOP-controlled states in the last few years have also moved to bar gender-affirming care for transgender minors. Twenty-two states are currently enforcing such restrictions.
Several Democratic-controlled states have adopted policies in the last two years to ensure access to both abortion and gender-affirming care, including by trying to block investigations of healthcare providers in their states from authorities in places with bans.
Voters could have the final say on abortion access in Nebraska. on the subject are likely to appear on the November ballot: One would add a right to abortion to the state constitution. The other would enshrine in the state constitution Nebraska鈥檚 current 12-week ban.
Margery A. Beck, The Associated Press
