Politics & Government
Nebraska AG's Opinion Says Abortion Bill Wouldn't Put Doctors At Risk Of A Crime
The bill would ban the procedure in cases where there's embryonic cardiac activity, which typically happens six weeks into pregnancy.
By Aaron Sanderford
April 25, 2023
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LINCOLN — Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers released a legal opinion Tuesday disputing two top concerns about a proposed abortion ban tied to the ultrasound detection of embryonic cardiac activity.
The Legislature is expected to begin a pivotal second round of debate over State Sen. Joni Albrecht’s Legislative Bill 626 on Thursday.
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Hilgers and Solicitor General Eric Hamilton wrote that LB 626 would not result in doctors being charged with a crime for performing an abortion if they meet the proposal’s roughly six-week timing or longer exceptions for protecting the mother’s life or in cases of rape or incest.
“Exceptions apply to both the post-viability and 20-week bans,” the opinion says. “The Act does not amend these statutes or any other provision in the Nebraska Criminal Code.”
State Sen. John Cavanaugh of Omaha and several other lawyers in the Legislature who oppose LB 626 have argued that a separate section of state law, 28-336, risks changing the definition of an acceptable medical procedure for abortions and could put doctors at legal risk.
The opinion also says doctors would not have to report sexual assault allegations before performing abortions. They could do so afterward, and without revealing personal details, it states, as long as the woman is an adult, defined as 18 or older.
State law requires doctors and nurses to immediately report allegations and evidence of sexual assaults involving minors. It also requires providers to report evidence of adults being harmed physically, but the law leaves the decision on reporting rape to adult victims.
State Sen. Jen Day of Omaha and others opposed to LB 626 have argued that ambiguity in the way LB 626 is written — and its interplay with other state statutes — could be read to require the reporting of rape to law enforcement.
The bill passed the first round of debate with exactly the 33 votes needed to overcome a filibuster. Abortion-rights advocates are trying to peel off a single vote. Their best chance may depend on how senators handle an amendment from State Sen. Merv Riepe of Ralston.
Riepe’s amendment would shift LB 626 to a 12-week ban. Riepe, however, has said he would support LB 626 as written if the alternative was staying at the state’s current abortion ban limit of 20 weeks.
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