OMAHA, Neb. (AP) � 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�s high court acknowledged in its ruling that abortion and
gender-affirming care �are distinct types of medical care,� but found the
law does not violate Nebraska�s 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.

�Ultimately, �if 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�� 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 hybrid law passed last year violates Nebraska�s single subject
rule.

Republican lawmakers in the officially nonpartisan Nebraska Legislature
had originally proposed separate bills: An abortion ban at about six weeks
of pregnancy and a bill restricting gender-affirming treatment for minors.
The GOP-dominated Legislature added a 12-week abortion ban 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�s most controversial in
the 2023 session, and its gender-affirming care restrictions triggered an
epic filibuster in which a handful of lawmakers sought to block every bill
for the duration of that session � even ones they supported � in an effort
to stymie it.

A district judge dismissed the lawsuit last August, and the ACLU appealed.

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�s 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�s
session.

�It pushed them together only when it was constrained to do so,� 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�s single-subject rule.

Miller-Herman chastised the majority for granting leeway and indulging the
Legislature �at the expense of the Constitution.�

�It was the duty of the Legislature ... to compose legislation, including
titling, which stated �one subject�; failure to so compose renders the
bill unconstitutional,� Miller-Lerman wrote. �It is not the role of this
court to rescue legislative bills.�

Opponents decried the ruling, with the ACLU Nebraska Executive Director
Mindy Rush Chipman vowing the ruling �will not be the final word on
abortion access and the rights of trans youth and their families in
Nebraska.�

Ruth Richardson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood North Central
States, called the ruling �heart-wrenching and infuriating� and said
Planned Parenthood would continue providing abortions in Nebraska up to 12
weeks of pregnancy.

�This ban has already devastated Nebraskans� lives and will undoubtedly
widen dangerous health inequities for people in rural areas, people of
color, people with low incomes and young people,� 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.

�We 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,� Pillen said.

Most Republican-controlled states have implemented abortion bans of some
sort since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade 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�
gestational age, before many women know they are pregnant, with a fourth
such restriction, in Iowa, 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. Two
competing questions 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�s current 12-week
ban.

https://apnews.com/article/transgender-health-abortion-nebraska-supreme-
court-62a1022df835adc6697f5c96b8a35c16