Bruning: Abortion law flawed

LINCOLN — Attorney General Jon Bruning said Friday he might drop efforts to defend a new state abortion law.

It might be more prudent to go back to the Legislature, he said, than to appeal a federal judge’s ruling from last week.

“I haven’t made any decision on appeal,” Bruning said. “I’m just trying to decide how to allocate precious state resources.”

He has until the end of the day Monday to decide.

That’s the deadline U.S. District Judge Laurie Smith Camp set for the state to respond in a lawsuit filed by Planned Parenthood of the Heartland.

In her ruling, Camp temporarily blocked the law’s key provisions from taking effect.
A hearing on a permanent injunction would be the next step in the case if the state decides to pursue its defense.

The law, passed this year as Legislative Bill 594, would have required doctors to do extensive screening of women seeking abortions.

It would have made doctors subject to wrongful death lawsuits if screenings fell short.

Camp ruled that the law would place “substantial, likely insurmountable” obstacles in the way of women seeking abortions in Nebraska.

She found that Planned Parenthood was “likely to succeed” in attacking the constitutionality of key portions of the law.

Greg Schleppenbach, a lobbyist for the Nebraska Catholic Conference, which pushed for LB 594, said he has not talked with Bruning.

But he took no issue with Bruning’s hesitation about continuing the court battle.

“Anybody would be a fool to just plow ahead and ignore the direction this case could go,”

Schleppenbach said. “I’d rather go down a path that gets this into law and passes judicial scrutiny.”

The goal is to ensure that women get proper screening and information before going through with an abortion, not to challenge existing abortion laws, Schleppenbach said.

Jill June, president and CEO of the Des Moines-based Planned Parenthood, said dropping the state’s case would be a responsible move.

“It would be a prudent thing to do to conserve his resources and not throw good money after bad,” she said.

Bruning’s office did not respond to questions about the potential cost of defending the law.

Gov. Dave Heineman had no comment about the possibility of ending the state’s defense of LB 594. He said Bruning is the state’s chief legal officer.

The lawsuit named as defendants Heineman, Bruning, Health and Human Services Department CEO Kerry Winterer and state officials in charge of licensing clinics and nurses.

In court, the state’s attorneys argued that lawmakers intended for the law to be interpreted narrowly.

They said it would require only that doctors meet current medical standards in assessing and informing abortion patients about risks.

Planned Parenthood of the Heartland operates a clinic in Lincoln that provides surgical and medical abortions. The organization recently announced plans to start offering both types of abortions at a new consolidated Omaha clinic.

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