Medical Association Letter Invites Doctors' Comments on Abortion

The Nebraska Medical Association is asking doctors their views on legislation restricting abortion, in advance of possible action on the question by the Nebraska Legislature.

In a letter to its members, the Nebraska Medical Association says since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, it’s heard from many members with different positions. The letter invites more input before further abortion restrictions are considered, either in a special legislative session or when lawmakers reconvene in January.

The Medical Association opposed a ban on abortion (LB933) that was blocked in the Legislature this spring. In an interview, NMA President Dr. David Watts discussed the reasons for that

“One of the main ones was that it actually called for criminal penalties for physicians, or at least opened physicians up to criminal penalty. And that is a stand that we’ve consistently taken opposing that,” Watts said.

Watts said the association also objected the bill could prohibit in vitro fertilization. Gov. Pete Ricketts has signaled that any new proposal should protect that procedure. And Watts detailed another concern about the previous proposal.

“The third plank of the NMA concern about that bill it would not allow doctors and patients to make that very difficult decision as to what to do to save the life of the mother, if it included abortion,” he said.

The previous legislation allowed physicians the defense of performing an abortion to save the life of the mother. But critics argued they would first have been charged with a crime in order to qualify for that defense.

Ricketts and other supporters of abortion restrictions have been meeting on the subject, but have not yet offered any new proposal nor indicated whether they will call for a special session or wait until January.