Associated Press: Planned Parenthood sues over Neb. abortion law
The Associated Press reports on a lawsuit by Planned Parenthood that seeks to protect the privacy of women considering abortions in Nebraska:
Planned Parenthood of the Heartland filed a lawsuit Monday challenging a new Nebraska law requiring mental health screening for women seeking abortion.
The new law would require women wanting abortions to be screened by doctors or other health professionals to determine whether they were pressured into having the procedure. Those women also would have to be screened for risk factors indicating they could have mental or physical problems after an abortion. [...]
The new law says if a screening was not done or was performed inadequately, a woman who had mental or physical problems afterward could file a civil suit. Doctors would neither face criminal charges nor lose their medical licenses.
The screening law is set to go into effect on July 15. It is one of two controversial abortion laws passed by state lawmakers last spring and signed into law by Gov. Dave Heineman.
In a press release, Planned Parenthood of the Heartland said the suit maintains that “it is not possible to comply with the Act’s requirements, or that the requirements are too vague for a physician to be certain that he or she has complied, and that it is unconstitutional to force physicians either to cease providing abortion care, or always be at risk of penalty for non-compliance. The suit also maintains that it is a violation of doctors’ first amendment rights to compel them to make medical statements they know are false.”
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