{"id":29683,"date":"2021-03-12T11:43:45","date_gmt":"2021-03-12T17:43:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/?p=29683"},"modified":"2021-03-12T13:56:59","modified_gmt":"2021-03-12T19:56:59","slug":"telehealth-access-proposed-for-medical-abortion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/?p=29683","title":{"rendered":"Telehealth access proposed for medical abortion"},"content":{"rendered":"

A bill that would allow patients to receive medical abortion services through telehealth was considered by members of the Judiciary Committee March 12.<\/p>\n

\"Sen.
Sen. Megan Hunt<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

LB276, sponsored by Omaha Sen. Megan Hunt, would remove a current requirement that a physician be physically present to administer the first of two medications used in a medical abortion. The second medication typically is taken by the patient at home at a later time.<\/p>\n

Hunt said the prohibition on telehealth abortions in Nebraska is based in moral and political opinions about abortion rather than science.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnder current Nebraska statute, all treatments and consultations that do not involve a physical procedure can be performed through telemedicine, except for medical abortion,\u201d she said. \u201cThis means patients that are seeking abortions early in a pregnancy have to be in the same room as a doctor just to swallow a pill and go home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Danielle Conrad, executive director of the ACLU of Nebraska, testified in support of LB276. She said the U.S. Supreme Court has found that any law that imposes an undue burden on a woman\u2019s right to access abortion care is unconstitutional.<\/p>\n

Of Nebraska\u2019s 93 counties, Conrad said, only three provide access to abortion. The current ban on telehealth abortion services was introduced in 2011 based on the bill sponsor\u2019s religious beliefs, she said, which makes the resulting burden on women\u2019s access constitutionally suspect.<\/p>\n

Also testifying in support of the proposal was Tiffany Joekel, speaking on behalf of the Women\u2019s Fund of Omaha. Laws should safeguard women\u2019s health, she said, while at the same time not inhibit access to safe and effective medical care.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe support this effort to eliminate medically unnecessary barriers that have singled out a woman\u2019s decision to access medication abortion care for more onerous treatment through telemedicine,\u201d Joekel said. \u201cUltimately, this in-person requirement simply creates more burdens and barriers for women and their families in accessing the care that they need.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking in opposition to the bill was Marion Miner, representing the Nebraska Catholic Conference. He said the lack of an in-person meeting between an abortion provider and a woman seeking care would increase the likelihood that sexual abuse, trafficking or coercion would go undetected.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen abortion pills can be prescribed over video conference or telephone, it is not difficult for an abuser to be present and to listen to the conversation without the knowledge of the provider,\u201d Miner said.<\/p>\n

Karen Bowling, executive director of Nebraska Family Alliance, also spoke in opposition to LB276. Women deserve the best standard of care when pursuing a medication abortion, she said, including the presence of a physician.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe health and safety of women and pre-born lives should be protected,\u201d Bowling said. \u201cMail-in, delivered and self-managed abortion should not be the standard of care in Nebraska.\u201d<\/p>\n

The committee took no immediate action on the bill.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A bill that would allow patients to receive medical abortion services through telehealth was considered by members of the Judiciary Committee March 12.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29682,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[13],"tags":[253],"class_list":["post-29683","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-judiciary","tag-sen-megan-hunt"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/LB276Hunt3-12-21a.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29683","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29683"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29683\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29688,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29683\/revisions\/29688"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/29682"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}