Nebraska Denies Nebraskans Bodily Autonomy
The Nebraska Supreme Court has given the final thumbs up to a bill passed last year, LB 574, that restricts Nebraskans’ rights to bodily autonomy.
by Alyssa Steinsiek
As has become increasingly common across America over the past few years, Nebraska was granted permission to aggressively curtail its citizens’ rights to bodily autonomy last Friday.
LB 574, passed in May of last year, combined two completely separate proposed laws under one banner: A restriction on gender-affirming care for Nebraskans under 19, and an outright ban on abortions after 12 weeks, with exceptions for sexual assault, incest, or scenarios in which the pregnant person’s life is at risk because of the pregnancy. These exceptions are not always included in abortion ban laws, so it’s a small blessing that they have been implemented in Nebraska, but it’s worth knowing that a not insignificant number of people don’t realize they’re pregnant until ten weeks or later. The time constraints placed upon people who may be making a very difficult decision seem particularly cruel.
When LB 574 was under consideration, state senator Machaela Cavanaugh promised to filibuster the bill in an attempt to keep it from passing. “If this legislature collectively decides that legislating hate against children is our priority, then I am going to make it painful, painful for everyone,” she said. “If you want to inflict pain upon our children, I am going to inflict pain upon this body, and I have nothing but time, and I am going to use all of it … I will burn the session to the ground over this bill.”
Unfortunately, Senator Cavanaugh’s filibuster was broken, and the bill was passed.
Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, represented by the ACLU of Nebraska and others, sued the state to try and have the law struck down. They pointed out that the constitution of Nebraska stipulates new legislation must deal with one subject only, and so addressing gender-affirming healthcare and abortion would be explicitly unconstitutional. Their suit was dismissed by Lancaster County District Court Judge Lori Maret last August, but they appealed their case and received a verdict from the Nebraska Supreme Court last week.
In a stunningly asinine decision that must surprise nobody, the Nebraska Supreme Court ruled that, because both gender-affirming care and abortion were topics regarding healthcare, they were not in violation of the Nebraska constitution’s rules regarding new legislation. Because the suit was filed at the state level, Planned Parenthood and the ACLU have no further recourse, and must file a federal suit if they wish to continue pursuing legal action.
An early draft of LB 574 would have banned puberty blockers and hormone treatment for under 19s entirely. As it stands, the bill prohibits genital surgeries for minors (a thing that never happens in the course of typical gender-affirming care treatment anyway) and requires forty hours of “gender identity focused therapy” before receiving puberty blockers or undergoing hormone therapy.
Like everybody in the queer community, trans people are frequently underemployed or unemployed. Trans people experience poverty at a rate considerably higher than any other group in America, particularly trans people of color. Pursuing a year or more of “gender identity” therapy will likely be an incredible financial hardship on most trans Nebraskans, if they can even locate a pediatric therapist who specializes in treating transgender and gender diverse patients. Many families will have to travel to find these specialists, possible hours, adding an increased financial and time burden to people who are likely already struggling to provide adequate healthcare for their kids.
Make no mistake, these hard requirements on mental health assessments for trans kids are nothing more than a transparent attempt to keep the vast majority of our youth from receiving the care they desperately need. For many families, receiving gender-affirming care can be the difference between life and death.
It is not hyperbole, by any stretch of the imagination, to suggest that this bill will seriously harm trans kids in Nebraska.
Alyssa Steinsiek is a professional writer who spends too much time playing video games!
