Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts announced Monday that he was unable to get the legislative support needed to hold a special session to enact a 12-week abortion restriction within the state.
“It is deeply saddening that only 30 Nebraska state senators are willing to come back to Lincoln this fall in order to protect innocent life,” he said in a statement. “The proposal to change Nebraska’s state law that prohibits abortions starting at 20 weeks and reduce that to 12 weeks is a measured, reasonable step to protect more preborn babies in our state.”
Ricketts has stated that he supports protecting all preborn life with a complete abortion ban, although the aim of the special session was only to discuss legislation that would prohibit abortions after 12 weeks. Ricketts needed the support of 33 senators to pass such a bill, but only 30 indicated their willingness to stand behind the legislation. Nebraska has a unicameral legislature with just one chamber consisting of 32 Republicans and 17 Democrats.
“Right now, babies in Nebraska can be aborted up to 20 weeks. At this age, babies are nearly fully formed. They can kick, swallow, hear and respond to sounds outside the womb. They suck their thumbs. They can feel pain. And as medical advancements continue, more and more babies born at this stage can survive premature births and go on to live vibrant lives. Under Nebraska’s current law, these babies can still be killed before they have that chance,” Ricketts said.
According to the most recent research, preborn babies are now believed to feel pain no later than the end of the first trimester, much earlier than some prior studies indicated.
READ: Nebraska abortion facility owned by LeRoy Carhart downplays severity of abortion injury
Ricketts also put into perspective how extreme the state’s current abortion law is. “Most of the free world has more reasonable abortion laws than Nebraska,” he noted. “Over 75 percent of countries around the world have placed restrictions on abortion at 12 weeks. Our 20 week abortion ban puts us in line with a narrow ten percent of countries – including countries like North Korea and China – that fail to protect preborn babies.”
Nebraska lawmakers considered a trigger bill that would outlaw abortion with the overturn of Roe v. Wade earlier this year, but it failed by two votes.
For years, late-term abortionist LeRoy Carhart has maintained an abortion business in Bellevue. Carhart has been responsible for maiming and even killing women who came to him for later abortions in Maryland and Nebraska. In a Live Action undercover investigation, he told a Nebraska abortion client she was too far along to abort in the state, but that he could commit the abortion at his other facility in Maryland due to their more lax abortion restrictions (up to 28 weeks). Two of his Maryland facility’s abortion clients were injured so badly that emergency room personnel were traumatized by the experience.
Despite the disappointing failure of the 12-week restriction to advance in Nebraska, Ricketts is reaffirming his commitment to life. “As Governor, I will continue doing whatever I can in my power to affirm the rights of preborn babies and to support pregnant women, children, and families in need,” he said.
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