https:\/\/www.vox.com\/2024-elections\/377639\/nebraska-abortion-ballot-measure-trimester-ban-election-reproductive-freedom<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"“The 12-week abortion ban Nebraska lawmakers passed in May 2023 included exceptions for pregnancies caused by rape or incest, or to save the life of the mother.
\nAs in other states, these exceptions have proved ambiguous for doctors on the ground, and many patients who need abortion care have been unable to get it.<\/p>\n
Kim Paseka, a 34-year-old woman based in Lincoln, Nebraska, was one of those patients. Paseka lives with her husband and their 3-year-old son, and though they wanted at least two children, they were unsure about pursuing that in Nebraska after Roe was overturned.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe knew it was probably inevitable that our state government was going to work on banning reproductive health care in some capacity and it definitely gave us pause, like should we move, do we stay and fight? Those were our dinner table conversations,\u201d she told Vox. In the summer of 2023, just after Nebraska lawmakers passed their 12-week ban, Paseka learned she was pregnant again.<\/p>\n
Initial blood tests looked fine, but following a routine ultrasound, Paseka was informed that her baby\u2019s heartbeat was slower than expected. In subsequent appointments, the doctors determined the heartbeat was diminishing and that Paseka was carrying a nonviable pregnancy.<\/p>\n
Because of the new ban and the fact that Paseka\u2019s life was not immediately threatened, her doctors weren\u2019t comfortable ending the pregnancy. They sent her home with instructions for \u201cexpectant management\u201d \u2014 meaning to wait until she\u2019d bleed out eventually with a miscarriage.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had to go back to the hospital for three more scans, where I had to see the heartbeat weaken further week by week, and during this whole time I\u2019m so nauseous, I\u2019m tired, I\u2019m experiencing all the regular pregnancy symptoms, but I was carrying a nonviable pregnancy,\u201d she said. It took roughly a month for Paseka to finally bleed out the pregnancy at home.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn Nebraska, we have these exceptions, but in my situation it wasn\u2019t assault, it wasn\u2019t incest, and my life wasn\u2019t in immediate danger, so I automatically just lose health care,\u201d she said. \u201cThey\u2019re forgetting how detrimental that can be to mental health, that it\u2019s not just about physical endangerment. … I felt like a walking coffin.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mann, the executive director of Nebraska\u2019s statewide abortion fund, emphasized that the 12-week ban has had far-reaching consequences that most people underestimate.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot only are folks now restricted in how and when they can get the care they need, but it\u2019s additionally problematic that these rules are designed to be confusing and were brought about during a time when confusion was at an all-time high,\u201d she told Vox. \u201cWe talk to callers and members of the community all the time who have no idea when and if abortion is even legal here in Nebraska.\u201d<\/p>\n
There are two remaining abortion clinics in the state, though both only perform abortions part-time, meaning there sometimes are not enough appointments to go around, including for patients traveling in from states with near-total bans like Iowa and South Dakota.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis means that not only are patients who are past the 12-week mark forced to flee the state for care, but even patients under that ban restriction are sometimes having to travel just to get an appointment in a timely manner,\u201d Mann explained. \u201cThese patients are going to places like Minneapolis, Chicago, and Denver \u2026 this travel is often expensive, inconvenient, and overall an enormous burden on pregnant people.\u201d”<\/p>\n
https:\/\/www.vox.com\/2024-elections\/377639\/nebraska-abortion-ballot-measure-trimester-ban-election-reproductive-freedom<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[521,1186],"class_list":["post-15616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article-share","tag-abortion","tag-nebraska"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15616","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15616"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15616\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15618,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15616\/revisions\/15618"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}