A two-day debate over a procedural motion in the Nebraska Legislature foreshadowed one of the biggest battles of the session.
Sen. Megan Hunt of Omaha offered the motion, which would have moved a bill (LB626) banning abortions after about six weeks from the Health and Human Services Committee to the Judiciary Committee.
That motion failed on a nearly party-line vote, as did her motion to reconsider the first vote. The motion represented the first of several tactics that abortion rights supporters are expected to use in fighting the legislation.
Changing committees likely would have slowed but not stopped the measure, which was introduced by Sen. Joni Albrecht of Thurston with almost all of the Republican lawmakers signed on as co-sponsors.
The bill would prohibit abortions after embryonic cardiac activity can be detected, with narrow exceptions for rape, incest and to save the life of the woman. Physicians who violate the ban would be subject to losing their professional licenses.Â
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The HHS Committee has four Republicans and three Democrats, while the Judiciary Committee has four of each, meaning the bill probably would have stalled there. But abortion rights opponents could have used another procedural motion to pull the bill out of committee to the full Legislature.
Hunt accused legislative leaders of referring LB626 to the HHS Committee for political reasons. She argued that it belongs in the Judiciary Committee because it affects criminal law, criminal penalties and constitutional rights. She also said that committee traditionally hears abortion bills.
"We know this bill will result in women dying. We know this bill will result in criminal prosecution," she said.
Sen. John Cavanaugh of Omaha argued that, although LB626 does not include a criminal penalty for doctors who violate the ban, it would make them vulnerable to criminal charges under existing state law. That law makes it a Class IV felony to perform an abortion "by using anything other than accepted medical procedures."
"This bill, no matter how many gymnastics you go through, implicates this section of the statute," he said.
Sen. Anna Wishart of Lincoln said women getting abortions after six weeks could also be vulnerable to criminal charges under the same law. Â
But Sen. Julie Slama of Dunbar defended the decision to send LB626 to the HHS Committee. She argued that the bill belongs there because it deals entirely with laws governing medical practice. She said there are possible criminal penalties implicated in almost every bill, if read in certain ways.
Slama noted that the bill drafting office had recommended referring the bill to the HHS Committee, and the Legislature's Executive Board, sitting as the Referencing Committee, had voted 9-0 to accept that recommendation.Â
Sen. Tom Briese of Albion also said not all abortion-related bills have gone to the Judiciary Committee in previous years. He pointed to a bill introduced by Hunt last year that would have allowed more health care providers to perform abortions. That measure went to the HHS Committee.Â