After Roe Fell: U.S. Abortion Laws by State

Hostile

Nebraska

Nebraska is enforcing a 12-week abortion ban, with limited exceptions. On November 5,  Nebraskans voted to enshrine the 12-week ban in the state constitution and rejected an amendment that would have protected abortion until viability.

State Legal Details

Bans in Effect

  • Gestational Ban, 12-week LMP
  • Gestational Ban, 22-week LMP
  • Gestational Ban, Viability
  • Telemedicine Ban

Bans Enjoined

  • Method Ban

Restrictions in Effect

  • Biased Counseling Requirement
  • Mandatory Ultrasound Requirement
  • Parental Involvement, Parental Consent Requirement
  • TRAP Requirements: Facilities, Facility Requirements
  • TRAP requirements: Providers, Reporting Requirement
  • Waiting Period Requirement

Restrictions

The Nebraska Constitution prohibits abortion care after the first trimester except when the pregnant person experiences a medical emergency or the pregnancy is the result of sexual violence.1 Voters approved this amendment in November 2024.2 Nebraska law generally prohibits abortion at twelve weeks LMP,3 twenty weeks post-fertilization, and after viability.4 In May 2023, advocates challenged the twelve week abortion ban in state court, however, the court dismissed the challenge.5 The state has a prohibition on D&X procedures, although the Supreme Court held that the statute is unconstitutional.6 In 2020, Nebraska banned D&E procedures.7 Pregnant people who seek abortion care must undergo a mandatory twenty-four-hour waiting period; biased counseling; and, if utilized, have an ultrasound at least one hour before an abortion.8 Nebraska also limits public funding for,9 and private insurance coverage of, abortion.10 Nebraska law requires that a parent, legal guardian,11 or judge12 consent to a minor’s abortion.

Nebraska’s targeted regulation of abortion providers (TRAP) laws include requirements related to facilities13 and reporting.14 Nebraska law restricts the provision of abortion care to licensed physicians15 and restricts providers from using telemedicine for the provision of abortion care.16 Providers who violate Nebraska’s abortion restrictions may face civil and criminal penalties.17

State Protections

Nebraska law does not include express constitutional or statutory protections for abortion. To the contrary, Nebraska’s policy preference to ban abortion to the fullest extent of the law: “the members of the Legislature expressly deplore the destruction of the unborn human lives which has and will occur in Nebraska as a consequence of the United States Supreme Court’s [Roe v. Wade] decision on abortion of January 22, 1973.”18 In November 2024, voters rejected the Right to Abortion Constitutional Amendment, which proposed to amend the state constitution to recognize abortion up until viability as a fundamental constitutional right.19

Post-Roe Prohibitions

Nebraska repealed its pre-Roe ban in 1973.20

Conclusion

Now that the Supreme Court has overturned Roe, Nebraska is enforcing a 12-week abortion ban, with limited exceptions. In November 2024, Nebraskans approved a constitutional amendment to enshrine a  12-week ban in the state constitution and rejected a measure to protect abortion access until viability.

  1. Ne. Const. art. 1, u00a7 31 ↩︎
  2. Margery A. Beck, Josh Funk, Voters back Nebraskau2019s ban on abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy and reject a competing measure, AP News (Nov. 6, 2024). ↩︎
  3. L.B. 574, 108th Leg., 1st Reg. Sess. (Neb. 2023). ↩︎
  4. Neb. Rev. Stat. u00a7 28-3106; id. u00a7 28-329. ↩︎
  5. Planned Parenthood of the Heartland and Sarah Traxler v. Hilgers, No. CI 23-2820 (Neb. Dist. Ct. Aug. 11, 2023) (sustaining Defendantu2019s motion to dismiss Plaintiffu2019s challenge to the 12-week ban based on the single subject rule), available at: https://www.aclunebraska.org/sites/default/files/aug-11-order-pp-hilgers.pdf. ↩︎
  6. Id. u00a7 28-328; Stenberg v. Carhart, 530 U.S. 914 (2000). ↩︎
  7. Neb. Rev. Stat. u00a7u00a7 28-347(1), 28-326 ↩︎
  8. Id. u00a7 28-327. ↩︎
  9. NEB. REV STAT. u00a7u00a7 71-7606(3), 71-705; id. u00a7 44-1615.01. ↩︎
  10. NEB. REV. STAT. u00a7 44-8403. ↩︎
  11. Id. u00a7 71-6902. ↩︎
  12. Id. u00a7u00a7 71-6903 to 71-6905. ↩︎
  13. Id. u00a7 71-416(1), (2); 175 NEB. ADMIN. CODE u00a7 7-003. ↩︎
  14. NEB. REV. STAT. u00a7 28-343. ↩︎
  15. Id. u00a7 28-335(1). ↩︎
  16. Id. u00a7 28-335. ↩︎
  17. See, e.g., NEB. REV. STAT. u00a7 28-327.04; id. u00a7 28-3,108; L.B. 574, 108th Leg., 1st Reg. Sess. (Neb. 2023). ↩︎
  18. Id. u00a7 28-325(2)u2013(3). ↩︎
  19. Beck supra note 1. ↩︎
  20. NEB. REV. STAT. u00a7u00a7 28-404, 28-405 (1943), repealed by 1973 Neb. Laws 806. ↩︎