LINCOLN — Three generations of women have grown up with abortion being legal and available, even though restricted, in Nebraska.

Older women, however, lived during a time when Nebraska law, like most states, banned abortion except when necessary to preserve a woman's life or when advised by two physicians.

After a leaked decision that could overturn Roe v. Wade, the memories of the older generation could offer insight into what life could be like for women if the landmark ruling is overturned.

The high court is expected to rule by the end of June. Gov. Pete Ricketts has said he will work with Speaker of the Legislature Mike Hilgers to call a special legislative session on abortion if Roe is overturned.

Both Ricketts and Hilgers supported a bill that would have banned all abortions with no exceptions. Affirmative defense for a doctor performing an abortion to save a woman's life would be provided if that bill were to pass, however. A filibuster-ending motion fell two votes short, killing the bill.

Marcia Kushner, 93, says she was careful to avoid any risk of pregnancy herself before getting married in 1949. That meant avoiding sex, even with her fiancé, because condoms were the only birth control available to unmarried couples at the time.

She said her mother didn’t talk about her own abortion until she reached her 90s. It happened in the early 1930s, during the depths of the Great Depression.

“It was not a real savory experience,” Kushner said. “They really put their lives on the line.”

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