{"id":34125,"date":"2023-04-14T09:33:34","date_gmt":"2023-04-14T15:33:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/?p=34125"},"modified":"2023-04-14T09:47:34","modified_gmt":"2023-04-14T15:47:34","slug":"ban-on-gender-altering-procedures-for-minors-advanced-to-final-round-after-cloture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/?p=34125","title":{"rendered":"Ban on gender-altering procedures for minors advanced to final round after cloture"},"content":{"rendered":"

Senators advanced a measure to the final round of consideration April 13 to ban \u201cgender-altering\u201d care for minors in Nebraska after a successful cloture vote and a pledge from the bill\u2019s sponsor to continue working toward a compromise.<\/p>\n

\"Sen.
Sen. Kathleen Kauth<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

LB574, introduced by Omaha Sen. Kathleen Kauth, would prohibit physicians in Nebraska from performing or referring an individual under age 19 for gender altering procedures, including surgical procedures, hormone therapy and puberty blockers.<\/p>\n

A physician who knowingly violates the bill\u2019s provisions would be subject to review by the state\u2019s medical licensing board. An individual who received a gender-altering procedure while under age 19, or their parent or guardian, could bring a civil action against the physician within two years of discovery.<\/p>\n

The bill also would prohibit the distribution or use of state funds for any entity, organization or individual that provides gender-altering procedures for minors. The provisions of LB574 would take effect on Oct. 1, 2023.<\/p>\n

Kauth and other supporters of the bill argued that the measure would protect children from \u201cexperimental\u201d treatments with life-long consequences. She claimed that 85 percent of children desist from gender dysphoria if they receive psychological rather than medical intervention.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis an instance where these drugs and these surgeries are too harmful for kids with no proven benefit,\u201d Kauth said. \u201cChildhood and teen years are a time of trial and error \u2014 figuring out who you are \u2014 that changes frequently, and adults know that allowing children to make permanent, life-altering decisions is unwise.\u201d<\/p>\n

Niobrara Sen. Barry DeKay said he has spoken to Nebraskans who support and oppose the bill, as well as individuals who transitioned but later regretted that choice. Speaking in support of LB574, he said the measure would \u201cslow down\u201d the process for minors, allowing them to make decisions regarding gender-affirming care once they become adults.<\/p>\n

\u201cPersonally, I believe people have the right to live their lives in a manner and a way that they choose,\u201d DeKay said. \u201cAt the same time, I feel that we\u2019re going too far, too fast when it comes to providing gender-affirming care and treatments to minors \u2014 especially those [treatments] with permanent or irreversible effect.\u201d<\/p>\n

Opponents suggested the measure would harm children and families and warned against setting a precedent of authorizing the Legislature to intervene between parents and doctors in any health care decision.<\/p>\n

Omaha Sen. John Fredrickson urged senators to take a \u201cbigger picture\u201d view of the impact of LB574. Years down the road, he said, other lawmakers may look to the bill as a precedent regarding the limits of parental rights when it comes to health care decisions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe really need to consider the precedent that we set,\u201d Fredrickson said. \u201cWith this bill, we are saying that the government can overrule the parents.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sen. Danielle Conrad of Lincoln also opposed the bill, calling it a \u201cradical\u201d and \u201cpartisan\u201d measure that reflects national culture wars and not the \u201ckitchen table\u201d issues that Nebraskans care about.<\/p>\n

\u201cNebraskans are not crying out for this hateful, harmful, divisive measure,\u201d Conrad said.<\/p>\n

After four hours of debate, Kauth offered a motion to invoke cloture, which ceases debate and forces a vote on the bill and any pending amendments. The motion was adopted on a vote of 33-16. Thirty-three votes were needed.<\/p>\n

Kauth then asked senators to vote against her amendment that would have narrowed the bill to a ban on physicians providing irreversible \u201cgender-reassignment\u201d surgery to anyone younger than 19.<\/p>\n

She said she would work instead to put together a compromise amendment that could be considered on the last round of debate and that was she was \u201ccommitted to sitting down and figuring out how to make this bill better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bills on final reading cannot be amended, but senators may vote to return a bill from final reading to select file for consideration of a specific amendment.<\/p>\n

Lincoln Sen. George Dungan remained opposed to the bill, but supported the idea of a good-faith effort to find common ground. He stressed, however, that those conversations must include representatives on both sides of the issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn order to have negotiation and compromise, there needs to be an actual conversation,\u201d Dungan said. \u201cI\u2019m hesitant \u2014 I\u2019m nervous \u2014 but I\u2019m hopeful that we can continue talking.\u201d<\/p>\n

After senators defeated the pending Kauth amendment on a vote of 11-28, they voted 33-16 to advance LB574 to final reading.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Senators advanced a measure to the final round of consideration April 13 to ban \u201cgender-altering\u201d care for minors in Nebraska after a successful cloture vote and a pledge from the bill\u2019s sponsor to continue working toward a compromise.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":34122,"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":[12],"tags":[285],"class_list":["post-34125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health-and-human-services","tag-sen-kathleen-kauth"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/LB574JacobsonKauth4-13-23c.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34125","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=34125"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34125\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34130,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34125\/revisions\/34130"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/34122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=34125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=34125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=34125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}