Nebraskans speak out on four abortion bills in Legislature

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) — Nebraskans from both sides of the issue came to the Nebraska Legislature on Thursday to voice their opinions on four abortion bills.

“I’m here because my story almost never came to fruition, like the stories of thousands of Americans and Nebraskans whose stories were ended by an abortionist,” said Jaylum Durousseau of Students for life.

Three bills would ban abortions within weeks of pregnancy, and LB 933 would make it illegal at any point except to save the mother.

“My aunt, who courageously served our nation in two tours in Iraq, suffers from PTSD,” Durousseau said. “But it wasn’t the dangers of Iraq, and it wasn’t the tiny shower trailer that she had just left was shelled by enemy forces. It was the abortion she was pressured into early in her military career.”

Danielle Conrad, executive director of the ACLU of Nebraska, said the bill was “a bridge too far.”

“This is out of step without Nebraska values. This hurts women’s health. This hurts family health. This is an assault on our rights,” she said. “The critical thing to remember is Nebraskans do have different perspectives on abortion, but once a woman has decided to end a pregnancy, it is important that we remove political interference and we stop shaming and judging women. These bans just continue to push care farther and farther out of reach.”

Sen. Megan Hunt introduced a bill that would expand access to abortion in Nebraska.

“We can’t just keep spinning our wheels and always just being in defense. We can’t always just be here to try and stop a ban from happening,” she said. “As long as there are barriers to care with cost and access in Nebraska, we need to do more to expand abortion services, so I introduced this bill to make that possible.”

Her bill would allow more medical professionals to perform abortions in the state.

“You can’t do telemedicine for abortion, so meaning, if you want to get a medication abortion, which is when you take a couple of pills to terminate a pregnancy and cause a miscarriage, you have to do that in the presence of a physician, in the presence of an M.D.,” she said. “So for many patients, that means taking time off of work, getting child care, driving hours across the state in order to go to a clinic where they can get this service.”

Many mentioned how access to health care in general has affected the Black community.

“We know that bans and limitations and restrictions do disproportionately impact Black people in particular,” said Michaela Atkins, an abortion rights advocate.

But some said expanding abortion would just hurt the Black community more.

“Planned Parenthood, which has absurdly rebranded itself as an anti-racist organization, is the leading killer of Black lives. They kill 360 unarmed Black lives every single day,” said Ryan Bomberger, founder of the Radiance Foundation.

People of all ages came to voice their opinions.

“It means everything. The weight of our future is kind of held in today,” Atkins said.

Eleanor Grosvenor, 16, said she opposes abortion “because I believe everyone has dignity, which by definition means worthy of honor and respect.”

“When we fail to give the most defenseless dignity, this will eventually affect the rights we afford to everyone else,” she said.

“I love when the ACLU, Planned Parenthood, and the Women’s Fund talk about abortion being safe and legal, well guess what, so was slavery,” Bomberger said. “We live in a culture of abandonment where we are told that Roe v. Wade empowers women. No, it doesn’t, it empowers men to have sex and run, and for those men who want to protect the child that they have helped to create, legally, they are powerless.”

Sen. Joni Albrecht said there have been over 200,000 abortions in Nebraska since Roe v. Wade.

She said 12 other states have brought similar anti-abortion bills to their legislatures. Nothing will be decided Thursday, and each bill must first pass the committee before it can hit the Legislature’s floor.