New law bans late-term abortions in Nebraska, requires women's health to be screened

One of the laws prohibits the procedure at and after 20 weeks of pregnancy based on the assertion that fetuses can feel pain at that point, My Way News reported. 

The other law requires women to be screened before having abortions for mental health issues and other risk factors indicating if they might have problems afterward.

The regulation, set to take effect in October, is intended to shut down one of the few doctors in the nation who performs them in Nebraska. Currently, the law prohibits performing abortions based on viability, or when a fetus is able to survive outside the womb, e.g. at 22 to 24 weeks.

A national abortion rights group calls the ban at or after 20 weeks "flatly unconstitutional."

"It absolutely cannot survive a challenge without a change to three decades of court rulings," said Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights. "Courts have been chipping away at abortion rights ... this would be like taking a huge hacksaw to the rights."

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