By ZACH WENDLING
Nebraska Examiner
LINCOLN — Planned Parenthood representatives said Thursday that abortion access nationwide has been “decimated” nearly one year following the fall of Roe v. Wade.
Now, back-and-forth court fights between state lawmakers and abortion rights supporters are the “new normal,” according to Andi Curry Grubb, the executive director of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Nebraska and director of public affairs for Planned Parenthood North Central States.
“This is what it looks like without Roe,” Curry Grubb said. “The new landscape is volatile and it’s changing rapidly, but this is now what it looks like to fight for abortion access.”
Legal fight continues in Nebraska
Curry Grubb said reproductive health providers started bracing after the fall of Roe, pushing back on multiple bans across the region. This included a failed near-total ban in Nebraska, tied at the point an ultrasound detects embryonic cardiac activity, about six weeks into a pregnancy.
“After all of this, it was quite gut-wrenching when elected officials tacked a brand-new abortion ban onto another bill and passed it, breaking precedent and rules and doing so without public input and discussion,” Curry Grubb said.
State Sen. Ben Hansen of Blair, the chair of the Health and Human Services Committee, introduced an amendment May 8 to Legislative Bill 574 to ban abortions after 12 weeks gestational age, or about 10 weeks post-fertilization.
LB 574, proposed by State Sen. Kathleen Kauth of Omaha, also included a ban on gender transition surgeries for minors and, through Hansen’s amendment, tasked the state’s chief medical officer to set guidelines around minors’ use of puberty blockers and hormones for transitioning.
Two weeks after Hansen introduced his amendment, Gov. Jim Pillen on May 22 signed LB 574 into law. The abortion restrictions went into effect the next day.
Planned Parenthood of the Heartland and Dr. Sarah Traxler, chief medical officer for Planned Parenthood North Central States, filed a May 30 lawsuit alleging LB 574 violates the Nebraska Constitution’s single subject rule.
They argue that abortion and gender-affirming care are two subjects and that LB 574 is unconstitutional.
The lawsuit’s next court date is July 19; the ACLU of Nebraska is representing Traxler and Planned Parenthood.
Celebration and challenge
Sandy Danek, executive director of Nebraska Right to Life, said Thursday that the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization Supreme Court decision brought reasons for both celebration and challenge
She said there has been confusion in the year since the ruling, including with some abortion opponents or abortion providers saying abortion is illegal when it isn’t, or a fear that women will be prosecuted for seeking care.
“This year, I believe, has brought about a greater awareness of the pregnancy help centers, and it has caused our supporters to not only encourage and offer their financial assistance to the pregnancy centers, but we’ve also enjoyed our supporters reaching out and saying, ‘I care about this issue, I’ve always wanted to be involved, and now’s the time,’” Danek said.
To mark the one-year anniversary of the Dobbs decision, Right to Life is hosting “Life Fest: A Post-Roe Celebration” on June 24. Danek said the event will include live Christian music, face painting, balloon animals and carnival games.
“On this day, it will be exactly ONE YEAR since Roe v. Wade was overturned and we are commemorating it with festivities for adults and children alike!” the event’s Facebook page states.
‘Whim of legislators or judges’
Traxler, with Planned Parenthood, said providers have stepped up and met the post-Roe challenges, though providing and planning health care has become more complex.
“We’re always, it feels, kind of at the whim of legislators or judges trying to figure out and tell us what we can and can’t do, and we’re often working in these unknowns, these ‘what ifs,’ and making contingency plans,” Traxler said. “And that ultimately hurts our patients.”
Ruth Richardson, the president and CEO of Planned Parenthood North Central States, said abortion bans do not stop abortions but restrict access for those without means of travel.
Amid “shifting legal sands” and a “patchwork quilt of laws,” Richardson said, there is confusion nationwide on what care is legal.
“Pregnancy is becoming more and more dangerous in America, and the inequities will continue to grow,” Richardson said, pointing to infant and maternal mortality rates. “Black women are three to four times more likely to die from a pregnancy-related cause compared to white women.”
Richardson added, “The only way to change our current reality is to vote. Democracy is the best tool we have to make change.”