Thread by @asanderford

Big day around the corner. #NEleg

Already some abortion-rights advocates gathering outside the Capitol. Several cheered as @JohnforNE walked in.

Anti-abortion advocates are hosting a lunchtime rally at the Capitol. We will check in on that, too.

State Sen. Joni Albrecht of Thurston, introducer of LB 626, says, “At the end of the day, this is about elective abortions. … I know every woman and every child deserves love. We can protect their lives.”

State Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh, against LB 626, says, “The medical community does not support this bill.” She says she and others still don’t know how the rape exception in the bill would work. “Elective abortions are any abortion where the patient is not dying on this table.”

State Sen. Jen Day says at six weeks, when LB 626 says an ultrasound detects fetal cardiac activity, an embryo is half the size of a Tic Tac. “It does not have a heart. It does not have lungs. It has no fingers or toes. … The sound you hear on an ultrasound is not a heartbeat.”

State Sen. John Fredrickson says LB 626 will not end abortions in Nebraska.

State Sen. Jane Raybould says, “We are putting women at risk if LB 626 passes. This bill would disproportionately impact those who are poor, young, those who live in rural areas, people of color.” Says Jesus says to protect those in need. Says they will be most harmed by bill.

Albrecht: Want to set record straight. I want to make record clear. It is not my intent that LB 626 be interpreted to say what is and is not an acceptable medical procedure. It is my intent to say the state has an interest in protecting “babies with a beating heart.” (Embryos)

Albrecht: People will be able to look at this bill as a moment in history when we stepped forward to help babies and women. “We do envision a Nebraska where babies and women are protected.”

Sen. Rob Clements is reading messages he found online about people who wrote that they regretted getting an abortion.

State Sen. George Dungan says LB 626 will end up having criminal penalties for doctors who go beyond the exception in the law, which Albrecht has denied. Dungan: The question is what is an allowed medical procedure.

State Sen. Brad von Gillern says LB 626 is one of the “most personal bills we will discuss.” von Gillern: “My job is to stand for what is right … I believe that standing for life can never be wrong.”

State Sen. Julie Slama says there are no criminal penalties tied to LB 626. Slama: “We were all just half a Tic Tac at one time.”

State Sen. Steve Erdman says people who say this bill is like the people who said a wall would cause more illegal immigration. “This is not healthcare.”

M. Cavanaugh: Head of Nebraska Medical Association gives women an extremely short window to make a decision and seek care. Any specialized care would generally not occur until after rhythmic activity could be detected. I asked Sen. Albrecht to explain the exception for rape.

M. Cavanaugh: I asked Albrecht how the assault would be documented. She said it would be documented the way it is today. But it isn’t being documented today. Nobody has to go to their doctor and say they have been raped. “This bill requires that.”

State Sen. Danielle Conrad says the exceptions in this bill aren’t real or effective. They are a means to make people “feel better” about the bill.

Slama: Opponents of this bill are lying about criminal penalties. They’re lying about the exceptions to this bill.

State Sen. John Lowe is giving a Bible lesson about the fruit of the womb. He’s arguing against abortion. “That is why abortion is clearly evil.” (Some in crowd chuckled. Lt Gov gaveled them quiet.)

State Sen. Ben Hansen says he can conceive of no way doctors will go to prison unless they are “making decisions with ill intent and purposefully.”

State Sen. John Cavanaugh says doctors could be charged because of how LB 626 spells out when and under what circumstances abortion procedures are allowed, which could trigger another part of state statute with penalties. “It is not out of the realm of possibility.”

State Sen. Carol Blood questioned why Lt. Gov. Joe Kelly warned the crowd in the gallery today not to cheer, jeer or heckle or risk being thrown out. Says no such warning was offered before discussion on anti-trans bills, which faced significant crowd reaction.

Blood: I also question how we can have laws protecting anonymous reporting of sex assault but require it here for LB 626.

State Sen. Brian Hardin says LB 626 is an opportunity for a “generational win.” Hardin: Protect unborn human beings. I walked past some signs using the word ban over and over. It’s been said LB 626 won’t let many women know if they are pregnant. Women can find out in 7-10 days.

Hardin: Proponents and opponents agree that this is not an abortion ban. (Most on both sides, including the sponsor, have told us the aim of this bill is to stop elective abortions.)

State Sen. Steve Halloran is bringing up ties of Planned Parenthood founder to racist and eugenic movements. (The group has criticized that part of her past in public statements.)

State Sen. Mike Moser says the majority of his constituents support stricter restrictions on abortion. (He disagreed with polling that indicated a majority of Nebraskans do not want additional restrictions.)

Hansen: One and a half to two weeks seems like enough time to make a decision like this. “It is a difficult decision for somebody to make whether to get or not get an abortion. What I want people to think about is why it is a difficult decision.”

State Sen. Wendy DeBoer is asking a philosophical question about whether an embryo or fetus is a person. DeBoer: Abortion is not going to go away. “It can be safer or less safe for women, but it will not go away.”

Day: Criticizes von Gillern for missing her point about the Tic Tac. “You’re so close you’re almost there. My kids are not Tic Tacs either. They are fully developed human beings. They do not require somebody else’s body to survive.”

Day: “There is a fundamental difference between a fully developed human being that does not require a person’s uterus and placenta to survive and something that is half the size of a Tic Tac that does not have a brain. It does not have a heart. It does not have fingers and toes.”

State Sen. Dave Murman says the key question to him is whether that embryo or fetus is a human life. He cited the Declaration of Independence to say that it is. Murman: More women than men are aborted so this bill is not anti-women.

Conrad: This (LB 626) is political propaganda. On the idea that this bill and these people are pro-women is not true. “The hypocrisy is palpable.”

Conrad: Any minute when a doctor hesitates puts a mother at risk.

State Sen. Rita Sanders shares conservative polling that asked about outlawing abortion after a heartbeat. More than half of respondents backed restrictions when the question was asked that way. (Experts say the heart isn’t formed until later in a pregnancy.)

Sanders: “We know that taking a life is unjust.”

State Sen. Teresa Ibach says aborting a baby is “unthinkable.” Mentions her triplets. Ibach: I’ve listened to medical professionals, and I do take their comments to heart.

State Sen Tom Brewer says he is no expert on pregnancy, but he is an expert on taking lives. He says you deal with the ghosts. He supports the bill because he says when you take an innocent life that haunts you and makes your life challenging “in ways you can’t imagine.”

State Sen. Tony Vargas says he is opposed to LB 626. He says he and other senators should not be debating how women and their doctors handle healthcare. Vargas: Abortion bans are making it harder for us to keep and attract people who want to stay in Nebraska, including doctors.

Vargas: The general population of Americans are starting to make decisions on where to live based on where they can get abortive care. “Doing something like this is sending a message to every young professional … We are telling them we don’t want you.”

Hansen tried to ask M. Cavanaugh how late she’d be OK with people having an abortion. They’re going back and forth about situations.

Cavanaugh: I don’t think it’s OK to terminate a live birth. I don’t understand the medical method of where this is happening. Where I’m coming from is every individual, every person and every birth. Most states limit at no later than viability. Viability is an important convo.

State Sen. Anna Wishart says people need to take seriously the questions about what this bill would do. Wishart: This bill exposes not just doctors, but possibly women. Says the bill debated last year would’ve outlawed en vitro fertilization.

State Sen. Terrell McKinney says he opposes LB 626 and efforts to limit healthcare this way. Says if people in the lege want to call out racists they could start with the founding fathers. He questions calling abortion genocide. Says Black women have agency over their decisions.

McKinney: If you are pro life you should be against the death penalty.

State Sen. Kathleen Kauth says if people might be making decisions on where to live based on abortion law she would welcome pro-life relocations from pro-abortion states, including New York.

Kauth: We ought to be considering the child that has not yet been born.

Hansen is apparently doing the questioning for now in support of the bill. He and Fredrickson had an exchange about the rights of fathers.

State Sen. Barry DeKay is arguing that the unborn deserve to be protected. DeKay: The unborn cannot speak up or speak out. LB 626 would give a choice to those who could not defend themselves.

Albrecht is arguing that #Nebraska’s LB 626 would be more permissive about medical emergencies and exceptions than any bill passed since Roe in any “pro-life state.” (Lawmakers will be headed to lunch soon. Dueling press conferences coming.)

First presser up is anti-LB 626, organized by ACLU Nebraska and others. @ZachWendling2 is covering for @NE_Examiner. Stopped by to listen. State Sen. Megan Hunt speaking.

The dueling presser supportive of LB 626 is outside. I’ll try to listen in.

One update from the floor: State Sen. Justin Wayne of Omaha, who some saw as a possible vote to end a filibuster on LB 626, says he does not support the bill and will not be a vote for cloture.

(Photo credit: @ZachWendling2.)

FYI, going to take a little break from tweeting to write. If you want to follow the debate in the interim this will help.

nebraskapublicmedia.org/en/series-medi…