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Abortion bans in conservative Nebraska and South Carolina both failed to advance this week after heated debates, while North Dakota’s governor on Monday signed a law banning abortion at all stages of pregnancy.
Here’s what’s happening this week in abortion access in the states:
Nebraska 6-week abortion ban fails to advance
Thursday, an effort to advance a bill banning abortions around the sixth week of pregnancy fell one vote short of breaking a filibuster in the Nebraska legislature, making the bill unlikely to move forward this year.
This is the second year in a row a bill intended to further restrict abortion access in the state has failed. Nebraska bans abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy.
Even abortion rights activists protesting outside the legislative chamber expressed shock at the vote’s failure.
“This gives me hope for the future,” said Pat Neal, 72, of Lincoln. “It gives me hope that the direction we’ve been seeing — across the country — could turn around.”
South Carolina Senate rejects near-total abortion ban
Also on Thursday, the South Carolina Senate rejected a bill that would have banned abortion at conception, with exceptions to save the patient’s life, for rape or incest through the first trimester, or for fatal fetal anomalies confirmed by two physicians.
The 22-21 vote was the third time since Roe v. Wade was overturned last year a near-total abortion ban failed in the state’s Republican-led Senate.
The chamber’s five women filibustered the bill in a series of speeches, including one from Republican Sen. Penry Gustafson, who said she was “pro-life” but that the bill left “no room for empathy, reality or graciousness.”
Abortion is legal in South Carolina through 22 weeks of pregnancy, which has led to the state becoming a critical abortion access point for the increasingly restrictive Southeast.
North Dakota governor signs one of strictest abortion bans nationwide
Meanwhile, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum on Monday signed one of the strictest abortion bans in the country. The legislation bans abortion at all stages of pregnancy with exceptions for rape, incest or medical emergencies at up to six weeks of pregnancy.
North Dakota is the 14th state with a ban on abortions at all stages of pregnancy.
Dip Deeper: Abortion access
Contributing: The Associated Press
Contact Christine Fernando at cfernando@usatoday.com or follow her on Twitter at @christinetfern.
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