Nebraska Supreme Court upholds law restricting both medical care for transgender youth and abortion

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A Nebraska law that combined abortion restrictions with another measure to limit gender-affirming health care for minors does not violate a state constitutional amendment requiring bills to stick to a single subject, a majority of the Nebraska Supreme Court ruled Friday.

The state’s high court acknowledged in its ruling that abortion and gender-affirming care “are distinct types of medical care,” but found the law does not violate Nebraska’s single-subject rule because both abortion and transgender health fall under the subject of medical care.

The majority relied, in part, on a passage from an 1895 ruling to find the state constitution offers wide latitude on what composes a single subject.

“Ultimately, ‘if a bill has but one general object, no matter how broad that object may be, and contains no matter not germane thereto, and the title fairly expresses the subject of the bill, it does not violate’” the state constitution’s single-subject rule, Chief Justice Mike Heavican wrote for the court.

The ruling came in a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union representing Planned Parenthood of the Heartland challenging the law that has restricted abortion to 12 weeks of pregnancy, banned gender-confirming surgery and restricted the use of hormone treatments in transgender minors since 2023. The high court rejected arguments by ACLU attorneys which argued the hybrid law passed last year violates Nebraska’s single subject rule.

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