Nebraska's New Extreme Abortion Laws

by Roxann MtJoy · 2010-04-15 06:00:00 UTC
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Another day, another state passes a restrictive new abortion law: yesterday, Nebraska Governor Bill Heineman signed into law two abortion-related bills. The first bill, LB 1103, bars abortions starting at week 20 of pregnancy. The second bill, LB 594, requires extensive health screenings for all women who want an an abortion. Aside from simply being egregious attacks on women's right to choose, both of these laws are flagrantly unconstitutional.

According to the Center for Reproductive Rights "the abortion pre-screening bill imposes requirements that doctors cannot possibly comply with." Doctors will be required by this new law to screen all patients for any risk factor even loosely associated with abortion. These risk factors are defined as "any factor, including any physical, psychological, emotional, demographic, or situational factor" that has ever been identified in a peer-reviewed study, regardless of how inconclusive, vague, or controversial that study may have been. The Due Process Clause of the U.S. Constitution requires laws to be specific in describing the conduct prohibited. Clearly, LB 594 is too vague and broadly defined to meet that exacting standard.

LB 1103 is no better. Since Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court has prohibited individual states from passing laws that ban abortion before the fetus would be viable outside the womb. For this new law to be upheld, the Supreme Court would have to overturn decades of previous abortion-related rulings. In fact, Utah tried this very same thing — banning abortion at 20-weeks — and the Supreme Court was having none of it, telling the state that such a law would be "directly contrary to the Supreme Court authority." I think it would be obvious that if it is illegal for Utah to enact a law like that, it should be illegal for Nebraska to do the same.

Dr. LeRoy Carhart, a Nebraska abortion provider, says of these new laws, "I am extremely saddened that my state has passed two laws that seriously jeopardize women's health under the awful pretense of protecting them." Me too. The above laws make no exception for rape or incest, in case you were curious. No wonder Dr. Carhart goes on to state that these new laws will "will make it harder for patients to get an abortion when they really need them, when they are under the most desperate of circumstances and even when they are clearly medically, morally and religiously justified." This whole thing makes me both mad and sad. And it also makes me glad that I don't live in Nebraska.

Photo credit: RobotSkirts

Roxann MtJoy is a freelance writer who previously worked as a case manager at a domestic violence shelter. She is currently attending graduate school for theater in Mount Vernon, N.Y.

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