LINCOLN, Neb. – The ACLU of Nebraska is urging state senators to immediately drop a renewed effort to ban dilation and evacuation (D&E), a safe method of abortion care endorsed by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
In February, the ACLU joined medical professionals and reproductive rights advocates in testifying against the bill. Testifiers raised concerns about the bill’s potential impact on patient health outcomes and warned it undermines the constitutional right to access abortion care.
The bill is now back before the Nebraska Legislature.
ACLU Legal and Policy Counsel Scout Richters said months of the coronavirus pandemic should have shown state senators that health – not politics – should guide medical decisions.
“State senators should be focused on supporting people’s health and well-being, not forcing their personal beliefs on Nebraskans,” Richters said. “Like any deeply personal medical situation, decisions about abortion care belong to a patient and their physician, not politicians.”
Courts have stopped similar laws from going into effect in nine other states because this type of ban creates an undue burden to accessing abortion care during the second trimester of pregnancy. The America College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has publicly opposed outlawing this method of abortion care because it “will limit the ability of physicians to provide women with the medically appropriate care they need.”
Nebraskans already face many barriers to accessing abortion care. The Guttmacher Institute, a national reproductive health research organization, lists Nebraska as one of 22 states that are hostile or very hostile to abortion rights.
