Global Courant 2023-05-31 18:37:53
As promised, the American Civil Liberties Union is filing a lawsuit to block the Nebraska legislature’s most controversial measure, which combines an abortion ban with restrictions on gender care for minors, just days after this bill was signed into law.
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday by the ACLU in state court on behalf of Planned Parenthood and one of its doctors who perform abortions in Nebraska, argues that the law violates a state constitutional requirement that bills stick to one subject. The lawsuit also calls for an injunction to block enforcement of the trans health and abortion restrictions until the lawsuit is decided.
The new law will prevent people under 19 from having sex surgery and will restrict the use of hormone treatments and puberty blockers in minors when those restrictions go into effect Oct. 1. , nose and throat doctor – tasked with setting the rules for hormone therapies for minors who are already receiving that therapy at the time the measure goes into effect and those who show a “prolonged and intense pattern of gender deviance or gender dysphoria”.
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The law also imposed an immediate ban on abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy, with exceptions for rape, incest and to save the mother’s life. That ban was included in the trans health bill as an amendment after a separate bill to ban abortion after about six weeks failed to overcome a filibuster.
“We believe that the combination of those prohibitions violated the plain text of our state’s constitution,” said ACLU Nebraska executive director Mindy Rush Chipman. “The bottom line is that senators cannot choose which constitutional requirements they will follow when making laws.”
Nebraska Senator Kathleen Kauth of Omaha speaks at the final reading of LB574, which restricts gender care for trans youth, on May 19, 2023, in Lincoln, Nebraska. The ACLU is suing to block Nebraska’s new law that combines a 12-week abortion ban with restrictions on gender-affirming care for minors. (Justin Wan/Lincoln Journal Star via AP, File)
The proposal to limit gender care was the culmination of an epic filibuster led by Omaha Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh. She and a handful of progressive allies slowed the passing of laws into a rush by introducing amendment after amendment to nearly every bill that made it to the Senate floor. That left leaders struggling to prioritize the bills that needed to be pushed through.
Lawmakers opposed to the hybrid bill had warned it would face litigation if passed.
Twelve-week abortion law takes effect in Nebraska as state prepares crackdown on transgender operations for minors
The ACLU’s lawsuit alleges that the legislature erred in logging two different, unrelated subjects into one combined bill.
“The single-subject rule prevents logrolling, which is the passage of legislation that, on its own, would not garner the necessary votes for approval,” the lawsuit reads. “The single subject rule also promotes transparency in the legislative process and accountability by legislators.
“If a bill contains more than one subject, it’s impossible to know whether the legislature’s vote was a sign of support for — or against — the whole bill, or just part of it.”
Global Courant
Omaha Senator Kathleen Kauth, a freshman lawmaker who introduced the transgender health restriction law that later turned into the hybrid law, said she is confident it will survive legal scrutiny.
“I mean, it’s called the ‘Let Them Grow Act,'” she said of her original bill. “I think restricting abortion is very much in line with that same topic.”
Gov. Jim Pillen declined to comment, citing his agency’s policy of not commenting on pending litigation.
