Abortion-related ads in Nebraska prompt health department alert

Just a week before Nebraska voters decide on two competing abortion rights ballot initiatives, the state’s health department is warning doctors about what it calls “misinformation” in radio and television ads.

Nebraska’s chief physician, Dr. Timothy Tesmer, wrote in the warning although it did not specify which ads, recent ads have created confusion about a Nebraska law restricting abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy.

He listed some exceptions to the policy, including that Nebraska law does not prohibit the termination of an ectopic pregnancy. The state allows abortion in cases of coercion or consanguinity and when the woman’s life is in danger or there is a risk of irreversible damage to a major bodily function, the consultant noted.

Nebraska’s two abortion ballot measures are called Initiative 439 and Initiative 434. Proposition 439 allows abortion until the fetus is viable — usually 22 to 24 weeks, though it does not specify the gestational age — or when necessary to protect the life or health of the pregnant person.

Proposition 434, meanwhile, would amend the state constitution to ban abortions in the second and third trimesters — in other words, after 12 weeks — with some exceptions. it is so Supported by Nebraska Right to Lifeanti-abortion rights group. Nebraska already bans most abortions after 12 weeks, so the measure won’t make much of a difference on the ground. But if passed, it could make it harder to challenge the state’s abortion law and open the door to further restrictions.

Allie Berry, manager of the Defend Our Rights campaign to vote yes on Proposition 439 and end Nebraska’s abortion ban, said Proposition 434 was designed to confuse people into voting against 439.

Berry suspects the health department’s advisory is a response to his group’s ads, though the language does not describe a specific ad.

The health department and Gov. Jim Pillen, who held a news conference last week about what he called “misinformation” about abortion, said they were “trying to camouflage that Nebraska actually has an abortion ban.”

Pillen and Tesmer, a Republican, “are using their power to further confuse voters,” Berry said.

In response to the request, Pille’s office indicated recap of last week’s press conferencewhen she said she didn’t want “misinformation” to prevent women from seeking care for miscarriage and ectopic pregnancy. He said his concern isn’t about Nebraska’s ballot initiatives.

Jeff Powell, director of communications for the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, said the purpose of the health alert is to “clarify existing law.”

Ads by Berry’s group, which supports Proposition 439, suggest Nebraska’s abortion ban may be in place. threatens women’s lives, preventing doctors from properly treating patients and forces women to get pregnant without a chance to live.

An ad Features a woman named Kimberly Pasekawho learned that she would lose her pregnancy shortly after the abortion ban came into force last year. Paseka told NBC News that in the first trimester, the fetus was not developing properly and had a low heart rate, but her doctor refused to intervene.

“There was a lot of confusion because the law had just been passed and there was still heart activity,” he said. “So instead of doing anything, they sent me home for expectant management, which is basically waiting for the birth.”

Paseka said she struggled with nausea and painful contractions while waiting for her miscarriage. She went for more ultrasounds, which she described as “its own level of torture, just watching something that makes you want to die.”

She finally miscarried at the end of her first trimester.

“I had our baby in our bathroom and it was just horrible and devastating,” Paseka said.

In response to the health department’s warning, two doctors in the state said there was no confusion among doctors about how to treat ectopic pregnancy or miscarriage.

But it can be difficult to determine what to do when the fetus still has a heartbeat, they said.

Nebraska’s abortion ban doesn’t make an exception for fetal abnormalities that prevent survival beyond the womb, so if life-threatening abnormalities are found after 12 weeks, “we can’t talk to you about terminating that pregnancy,” said Dr. Nebraska Chapter of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. His organization opposes Initiative 434 and promotes 439.

Drucker said doctors are also confused about when the intervention is legally permissible in some cases where a patient’s amniotic sac ruptures early and could pose a risk of infection.

“These are issues the governor is not talking about,” Drucker said. “We are limited by law here in the state of Nebraska as to when and how you treat that patient.”

Omaha’s OB-GYN Dr. Mary Kinyoun said recent comments from state officials downplay the burden doctors face as a result of the state’s abortion ban.

“It discredits us as OB-GYNs in a community fighting for reproductive rights,” she said. “I’m concerned that it kind of destroys the credibility of OB-GYNs in our community.”

Powell wrote in an email that the health department had “no intention to disparage Nebraska’s OBGYNs or any other health care professional” and that “DHHS has great respect for both the medical profession and the doctor-patient relationship.”

The back-and-forth in Nebraska is reminiscent of a similar dispute in Florida this month. Florida Department of Health sent cease and desist letters to many broadcast stations ran an ad supporting an abortion rights ballot measure. The attorney who wrote the letters on behalf of the department later resigned.

The department threatened criminal charges against stations that didn’t stop advertising, but a federal judge stopped the threats by issuing a temporary restraining order against state Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo. On Thursday, the judge stayed the order for two weeks, until after the election or until the judge rules on a request for a preliminary injunction to bar the health department from threatening television stations.