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South Dakota may have shelved a controversial bill that could have made it legal to kill an abortion provider, but a neighboring state is considering a bill that could be even more expansive. Nebraska’s state legislature held a hearing on LB 232, introduced by state senator and devout abortion foe Mark Christensen, yesterday. The South Dakota bill would have allowed only certain people to commit “justifiable homicide” in order to defend a fetus: the pregnant woman, her husband, her parents, or her children. The Nebraska bill, on the other hand, would allow any third party to do so, Mother Jones reports.
Christensen says he did not intend to target abortion providers, but simply wanted to allow pregnant women to defend their unborn children without being charged with a crime. Even so, opponents of the bill spoke out about their fears, including the deputy CEO of the Omaha police department, who said, "This could be used to incite violence against abortion providers." Christensen says he is prepared to narrow down the legislation to apply only to the mother. (Click for another controversial bill the state senator has proposed.)
