Nebraska Is Latest Abortion-Banned State Proposing Insane New Attacks on Abortion Pills

Nebraska Republicans introduced a bill that imposes invasive and unnecessary requirements for physicians to prescribe medication abortion, which medical experts say amounts to a total ban on the pills.

By Kylie Cheung | January 23, 2025 | 9:47am

Photo: Getty Images Abortion Politics

Nebraska Is Latest Abortion-Banned State Proposing Insane New Attacks on Abortion Pills

With abortion banned or severely restricted in about half of states, state legislatures are now closing in on abortion pills. This week, the Nebraska Examiner reports that Republicans introduced a bill that, if passed, would impose invasive requirements on physicians in order to prescribe medication abortion. At least one medical expert likened the requirements to “a total ban” on the medication.

Under LB 512, named the Chemical Abortion Safety Protocol Act, authored by state Sen. Rick Holdcroft, physicians would be required to independently verify that the person seeking the pills is pregnant; determine if they have an ectopic pregnancy; document their gestation; determine and document their blood type; and even determine whether they’re Rh negative, and potentially administer Rh immunoglobulin (a medication to prevent antibodies that could attack red blood cells, administered to Rh-negative people) to prevent Rh incompatibility complications in future pregnancies. The bill further requires an in-person follow-up visit with the physician between three and 14 days after taking the medication.

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These requirements are head-spinning and unnecessary, entirely designed to push the lie that medication abortion is unsafe and to make abortion pills nearly impossible to access.

Speaking to the Examiner, Holdcroft defended his extreme bill, citing the usual bullshit about being concerned for women’s safety: “I just want to make sure we’re providing safe procedures, and that’s not what we’re seeing,” he said. “We’re seeing a pretty slipshod operation, in my opinion.” In the same interview, he admitted he wasn’t aware that mifepristone and misoprostol, the most common abortion pills, had other uses on top of abortion. He added that he wants to ensure physicians aren’t just flying into Nebraska to prescribe the drug and then leave. This is not a man who knows what he’s talking about.

Dr. Elizabeth Constance, a reproductive endocrinologist in the state, told the Examiner that LB 512 doesn’t appear to ban mifepristone or misoprostol but still “puts so many onerous and non-standard of care restrictions on their use that it will effectively be a total ban” on the medications. Medical experts also flagged that Holdcraft’s bill lacks exceptions for the multitude of medical reasons people take mifepristone and misoprostol, from miscarriage management to treatment for endometriosis, fibroids, or hyperglycemia.

In 2024, Louisiana became the first state to enact a law drawing from the War on Drugs to baselessly classify abortion pills as a Schedule IV drug, which bans the medication unless someone can prove they’re imminently about to take the pills. The law has sparked mass confusion and safety concerns across Louisiana hospital systems, because misoprostol is essential to stop postpartum hemorrhaging and save lives, and doctors now need a prescription to access it instead of having the medication readily available to them.

Earlier this month, Texas filed a similar version of Louisiana’s bill, as well as legislation that classifies the act of mailing abortion pills as an illegal, deceptive trade practice that’s grounds for jail. Another Texas bill allows people to file lawsuits against websites that offer information on how to have medication abortion shipped to them. And Indiana similarly filed a monster anti-abortion bill of their own that, among other things, makes it a misdemeanor to prescribe or possess medication abortion unless you’re pregnant.

Research has shown that convenient access to abortion pills has been essential to bridging gaps created by state abortion bans. This is why a GOP-controlled state like Nebraska is joining its GOP counterparts in Louisiana, Texas, and Indiana to try and make abortion pills as difficult as possible to get.