A Nebraska law that combines restrictions on abortion with another measure limiting gender-affirming health care for minors does not violate an amendment to the state constitution that requires bills to be limited to a single subject, the state Supreme Court ruled Friday.
The state Supreme Court recognized in its ruling that abortion and gender-affirming care are “distinct forms of medical care,” but the law does not violate Nebraska’s single-subject rule because both abortion and transgender health fall within the subject of medical care.
The ruling came in a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which represents Planned Parenthood of the Heartland. The high court rejected arguments from ACLU attorneys who argued that the hybrid law, passed last year, violates Nebraska’s single-subject rule.
Members of the Nebraska Legislature, which has no official political parties, had originally proposed separate bills: a ban on abortions around six weeks of pregnancy and a bill restricting gender-affirming treatment for minors. But lawmakers aligned with the Republican Party, who dominate the state legislature, added a 12-week abortion ban to the existing gender-affirming care law only after the six-week ban failed to overcome a filibuster.
The merger bill was the most controversial to come out of the Nebraska Legislature in the 2023 session. And its gender-affirming health care restrictions led to an epic filibuster in which a handful of lawmakers attempted to block every bill for the duration of that session — even the bills they supported — in an attempt to thwart it.
A district judge dismissed the lawsuit in August of last year, after which the ACLU appealed.
In oral argument before the Supreme Court in March, a lawyer for the state argued that the combined measures for abortion and transgender care do not violate the state’s single subject rule because both fall within the subject of health care.
But an attorney for Planned Parenthood argued that the Legislature recognized abortion and transgender care as separate issues by introducing them as separate bills at the start of last year’s session.
“It only brought them closer together when it was forced to,” argued ACLU attorney Matt Segal.
At least 25 states have passed laws restricting or banning gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors, and most of those states are facing lawsuits. Federal judges have struck down bans in Arkansas and Florida as unconstitutional. Judges have temporarily blocked enforcement of Montana’s ban and aspects of Georgia’s ban.
Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, ending a nationwide right to abortion, most Republican-controlled states have moved to enforce new bans or restrictions. Most Democrat-dominated states have tried to protect abortion access.