Last week the Senators of the Nebraska State Legislature voted to pass LB 574 together with an amendment to limit abortions to the first trimester of pregnancy. This bill has now been sent to Gov. Pillen to be signed into law. LB 574 has clearly been the most controversial bill of 2023. I voted to pass this bill, and I believe history will show that this was the morally right thing to do.

Whether we are talking about transgender surgeries on minor children or abortions on unborn babies, these are procedures which are morally repugnant and should be banned. History has already shown the world how certain procedures can be so offensive and morbidly repugnant that they should never be performed on a human being. In order to prevent these kinds of procedures from being performed on minor children and unborn babies, legislators had to act now to outlaw these kinds of repulsive procedures with legislation.

Children and unborn babies are put in a position where others have to make medical decisions on their behalf. This means that children and unborn babies represent the most vulnerable citizens in our state. Because they are the most vulnerable citizens of our state, they need the most protections under the law against those who would wish to do them harm.

Unborn babies have no voice in the decision to take their lives and children are unable to make gender-altering decisions for themselves in a responsible way. A child simply does not possess the maturity to make a rational and informed decision about gender-altering procedures. Scientific studies show that the human brain does not fully develop until 25 years of age, yet, despite this fact, LB 574 only restricts adolescents under the age of 19 from making these kinds of gender-altering decisions for themselves.

LB 574 is hardly an extremist bill; instead, the bill represents a reasonable compromise among the Senators of the Unicameral Legislature on both sides of the political aisle. For example, in regards to abortion, the original bill would have set the limit for abortions at six weeks of gestation; LB 574 sets that limit at 12 weeks. The bill also makes allowances for such things as ectopic pregnancies, in vitro fertilization, and medical emergencies where the life of the mother is at stake.

In regards to transgender procedures, similar compromises were also made. For example, the bill states explicitly that gender-altering procedures do not include medical services provided to persons who were born with sexual characteristics which are biologically ambiguous, those with abnormal sex chromosome structures, and those with abnormal sex steroid production.

For these reasons, and more, I am confident that history will show that Senators in the Nebraska State Legislature did the morally right thing last Friday when they passed LB 574. It is hard for me to understand how responsibly mature adults can justify the mutilation of immature children and the murder of innocent unborn babies. These are procedures which are morally repugnant to humanity and which should be banned for anyone who is underage or who has a basic right to life.

I would like to suggest that a memorial be constructed to all of the unborn babies who have been aborted in Nebraska. Because these individuals are innocent persons who never had the opportunity to defend themselves, I believe they should be forever memorialized and never be forgotten.