
Culture & Conversation Law and Policy
This law was last updated on Aug 11, 2013
LB 1103
Current
Jan 21, 2010
s: 1
Primary Sponsors: 1
Co-sponsors: 11
Total Sponsors: 13
20-Week Abortion Ban
This bill bans abortion at 20 weeks post-fertilization except an abortion is permitted if it is necessary to avert death of the pregnant woman or to “avert serious risk of substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function” or it is necessary to “preserve the life of an unborn child.”
The bill states that an abortion does not become necessary if the risk of death or a substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function arises from a claim or diagnosis that the woman will engage in conduct that may result in her death or in substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function.
Abortions performed after 20 weeks must be performed in a manner that provides the best opportunity for the “unborn child” to survive, unless in the physician’s reasonable medical judgment, termination of the pregnancy in that manner would pose a greater risk of death or substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function than would another method. No such greater risk exists if it is based on a claim or diagnosis that the woman will engage in conduct which will result in her death or in substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a bodily function.
The bill includes legislative findings based on junk science that a fetus can feel pain at 20 weeks.
The purpose of the 20-week ban is to protect Nebraska’s compelling interest in “protecting the lives of unborn children from the stage at which substantial medical evidence indicates that they are capable of feeling pain.”
Physician Reporting Requirements
Abortion providers are required to report to the state department of health:
Reporting Requirements
By June 30 of each year, the state health department is required to issue a public report providing statistics compiled from all the reports provided by physicians.
Codified at Neb. Rev. Stat. § 28-3,106.