The Nebraska Supreme Court on Friday shut down a challenge to the state’s law that limits abortion to 12 weeks and bans medical treatment for transgender youth.
Planned Parenthood of the Heartland had challenged the legislation as running afoul of the state’s Constitution for having two subjects — both abortion and transgender medical care.
The state’s highest court, though, said the law was all focused on medical treatment, so it did not violate the Nebraska Constitution.
“Both abortion and gender-altering care are medical procedures, and thus all provisions regulating the same fall within the subject of ‘public health and welfare,’” the ruling read.
Lawmakers in the state had support for the transgender youth ban, which prohibits voice surgery and puberty-blocking drugs. It lets parents of a minor sue any health care worker that provides such treatment.
The lawmakers failed to garner enough support for a six-week ban on abortion and added an amendment to the transgender bill that limits abortion to 12 weeks.
Anyone who performs an abortion past that time could lose his or her license and face a fine of $20,000.
Since 2022 when the Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling that gave women a national right to abortion, red states have moved to restrict the procedure.
More than two dozen states have also moved to limit transgender medical care for minors.
The Supreme Court is set to weigh the legality of such laws during its next term, which begins in October. That dispute concerns a law out of Tennessee that bans surgery and hormone treatment for minors suffering from gender dysphoria.
• Alex Swoyer can be reached at aswoyer@washingtontimes.com.
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