Roundup: Nebraska Considers Ending "Mental Health" Screening Legal Challenge

Roundup: Nebraska Considers Ending “Mental Health” Screening Legal Challenge

Jul 26, 2010, 9:45am

Robin Marty

Nebraska reevaluates whether fighting for "mental health" screenings before an abortion is worth the money, and a really, really long waiting period in New Zealand.

Considering the effort that anti-choice groups put into crafting various laws this year that could all take different tactics towards legally assaulting Roe v. Wade, you would think that there’s some serious disappointment in the anti-abortion community over the idea that Nebraska may not continue legally fighting for their new mental health screening rule. However, the balance between ideology and fiscal responsibility may end up putting the law on the shelf permanently.

From News 5:

Is defending a new Nebraska abortion law worth an expected lengthy and costly legal battle? That is what Attorney General Jon Bruning is considering.

Bruning said he will not exhaust all legal options to support the Nebraska law.

He said he is considering whether it is worth the time and expense through what could be a lengthy appeals process.

Both sides of the abortion debate agree that further legal wrangling over the law as it is written now is an exercise in futility. Via the Omaha World Herald:

It might be more prudent to go back to the Legislature, he said, than to appeal a federal judge’s ruling from last week.

“I haven’t made any decision on appeal,” Bruning said. “I’m just trying to decide how to allocate precious state resources.”

He has until the end of the day Monday to decide.

…

Greg Schleppenbach, a lobbyist for the Nebraska Catholic Conference, which pushed for LB 594, said he has not talked with Bruning.

But he took no issue with Bruning’s hesitation about continuing the court battle.

“Anybody would be a fool to just plow ahead and ignore the direction this case could go,”

Schleppenbach said. “I’d rather go down a path that gets this into law and passes judicial scrutiny.”

The goal is to ensure that women get proper screening and information before going through with an abortion, not to challenge existing abortion laws, Schleppenbach said.

Jill June, president and CEO of the Des Moines-based Planned Parenthood, said dropping the state’s case would be a responsible move.

“It would be a prudent thing to do to conserve his resources and not throw good money after bad,” she said.

One additional benefit that pro-choice advocates may see from this is the lack of copy-cat legislation in other states, according to the Yankton Press:

“Given what the judge has ruled and what the attorney general says, it will certainly chill the prospects of this being adopted by other states,” said Jill June, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of the Heartland. She called Bruning’s consideration of whether or not to appeal a possible ruling striking the law, should such a ruling be made, the responsible thing to do.

…

Greg Schleppenbach of the Nebraska Catholic Conference, the main lobbyist for the bill, said it came from the Elliot Conference, an Illinois-based group that opposes abortion and crafted the model legislation for any state to use.

The Elliot Institute is the home of Dr. David Reardon, the king of alleged “mental impact of abortion” studies, who has claimed among other things that “Abortion only adds to and accentuates the traumatic feelings associated with sexual assault,” and that “Pregnancy resulting from sexual assault is actually a contraindication for abortion.”

Mini Roundup: Think our rising multitude of 24 hour waiting periods are bad? At least we aren’t New Zealand, where women are being forced to wait nearly a month for an abortion. Then again, the two doctor sign off probably still doesn’t require as much paperwork as this writer’s plan for reducing abortions.

July 23, 2010

Debate over legalising abortion intensifies in Argentina – BBC News

Majority Of Calif. Voters Support Abortion Rights, Poll Finds – Medical News Today

Did Pro-Lifers Err in Their Assertions of ObamaCare Abortion Funding? – The New American

New Zealand Clinics Made Women Wait to Get Abortions Done – TopNews United States

Neb. abortion law may not get full legal fight – KTIV

Personhood Colorado Announces Press Conference with Dr. Alan Keyes to Release … – Christian News Wire

GHANA: Ignorance on abortion law means death – IRINnews.org

Both sides of abortion issue at clinic – Charlotte Observer

California Pro-Life Group Disputes Results of Field Poll Showing Abortion Support – LifeNews.com

Senate Republican Leadership Now Unanimously Opposes Pro-Abortion Kagan – LifeNews.com

House Members Slam Obama Admin’s Promise to Not Fund Abortion in Health Care – LifeNews.com