In a sweeping decision, Nebraska’s Supreme Court ruled 6-1 in favor of allowing a ban on gender affirming care and abortions past 12 weeks of pregnancy.
This decision, Planned Parenthood of the Heartland v. Hilgers, concerned Legislative Bill 574, an act that restricted abortions past 12 weeks of pregnancy as well as gender affirming care for minors. The Nebraska legislature passed the bill in 2023 and it was signed by the governor in May after. In response, the ACLU of Nebraska, representing Planned Parenthood of Heartland, sued Attorney General Michael Hilgers (R).
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The ACLU argued that the case violated the Nebraska Constitution’s single-subject rule, which stated that bills should not contain more than one subject as their focus. The court argued, however, that this was a rare provision and that it didn’t apply due to both abortion and gender affirming care since both are medical procedures
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“We disagree with Planned Parenthood’s contention that it is not possible to identify a single purpose of L.B. 574 that withstands single subject scrutiny,” the court ruled. “L.B. 574 does regulate both abortion and gender-altering care, but both abortion and gender-altering care are medical procedures, and L.B. 574 prescribes rules that define if and when such procedures can be performed.”
Justice Lindsey Miller-Lerman was the sole dissenting judge, and she gave a partial dissent.
“Unrelated provisions that happen to do similar things at some level of generality do not dispel the criticism that the bill contains more than one subject,” Miller-Lerman wrote, adding that it isn’t the court’s role “to scour the bill in hopes of finding one subject that could conceivably explain inclusion of very different acts in one bill.”
Mindy Rush Chipman, executive director of ACLU of Nebraska, said in a statement, “We respectfully disagree with the court majority’s determination, and we had of course hoped for a very different outcome. But looking beyond the legal arguments of this specific case, it is so important that Nebraskans do not lose sight of the impact of these restrictions.”
“Nebraskans have been harmed every week since the governor signed LB 574 into law. That will continue under today’s ruling. However, this case will not be the final word on abortion access and the rights of trans youth and their families in Nebraska. Despite this loss, we will continue to do all that we can to ensure that Nebraskans can make their own private decisions about their lives, families and futures,” Chipman added.
A similar case is going to the United States Supreme Court concerning gender affirming care. United States v. Skrmetti will concern Tennessee’s gender affirming care ban on minors, and will be seen later this year.
LGBTQ Nation reached out to the ACLU of Nebraska and Planned Parenthood for comment, however did not receive a response before publication of this article. This will be updated in the event they do respond.
