Nebraska lawmaker who supported 12-week abortion ban now wants an exception included

A Nebraska state lawmaker who supported banning abortions after 12 weeks has now introduced legislation that provides exceptions and repeals criminal penalties.

Republican Sen. Merv Riepe’s bill would allow for abortions up to 20 weeks in cases of fatal anomalies with the confirmation by at least two physicians that a pre-born child is incompatible with life outside the womb and would die upon birth or inevitably after that.

“I failed last session to hold to my expectations, and we have an incomplete law,” Riepe said at the Judiciary Committee Hearing. “I feel compelled to right a wrong.”

This legislation would add fatal fetal anomalies to the list of exceptions for abortions in the state, including rape, incest or a serious risk to a pregnant person’s physical health, along with ensuring no criminal penalties for physicians who perform these abortions.

More: Nebraska lawmakers pass 12-week abortion ban

In the last session, Riepe abstained from providing a final vote needed to pass a six-week abortion ban after his amendment to extend it to 12 weeks post-fertilization, adding an exception for fatal fetal anomalies was not picked up by his colleagues.

“I believe we have found the middle, an uncomfortable place but the reasonable middle in conservative Nebraska,” Riepe said at the hearing. “These women have done everything right. They are wanting to be mothers. They have sought prenatal care and screening. But the genetic lottery has swatted them down and they have lost.”

Tiffany Palmer, a supporter of the bill who received an abortion after her child was diagnosed with Trisomy 18 during her pregnancy, said growing up, she grew up thinking that women who had abortions didn’t want to be mothers.

“It’s a health care option for those who want a child, but nature gave them the short end of the stick,” Palmer said.

More: A year after Roe v. Wade was overturned, this is what state abortion laws look like in US

Pro-life groups and advocates shared their personal stories of losing a child during pregnancy or shortly after testified against the bill.

Callie Higgins’ child, Archer, who had a fetal anomaly, passed away shortly after he was born. Higgins explained that her family was grateful for their brief but important time with Archer.

“In this moment, it can be difficult to think clearly and make decisions that are fully thought out,” Higgins said. “For a medical professional to recommend terminating the pregnancy may seem like the best option for an expecting mother looking for guidance in the midst of the turmoil, but aborting the baby will not change the heartbreak.”

Many who testified, including maternal-fetal medicine specialist Dr. Robert Bonebrake, said prenatal diagnoses are not always accurate.

“I still receive Christmas cards year after year from families, and their growing child that I diagnosed would not be able to live outside the uterus,” Bonebrake said.

More: 2024 starts with shrinking abortion access in US. Here's what's going on.

Planned Parenthood held in a neutral position, with Nebraska Executive Director of Planned Parenthood North Central States, Andi Curry Grubb, saying that Nebraskans should reject laws that don’t allow abortion restrictions.

Curry Grubb said the organization has heard from doctors who say their patients have had to leave the state to receive abortions, which raised ethical and equity concerns.

Last year, the group began circulating a petition that seeks to enshrine abortion rights in Nebraska’s constitution and needs 125,000 signatures by July to get on the November ballot.

The committee has yet to decide whether to advance the bill.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Nebraska lawmaker wants 12-week abortion ban amended for exceptions