LINCOLN- On Thursday, the Nebraska Legislature fell just one vote shy of passing Sen. Albrecht's LB626, which would have restricted abortions in the state after embryonic cardiac activity was detected, roughly six weeks into a pregnancy. After around four hours of debate, the Legislature motioned to invoke cloture, or end debate and hold a vote on LB626, which requires 33 votes.

As senators slowly voted on the cloture motion, Sen. Justin Wayne, considered a swing voter on abortion, appeared as present but didn't vote 'yes' or 'no.' With 32 votes on the board, Sen. Merv Riepe was the last to vote. Riepe, in a good-faith attempt to compromise with Democratic senators, previously introduced an amendment to bump the 6-week ban up to 12 weeks, but was widely rejected by his Republican colleagues.

In the end, perhaps because of this prior rejection, Sen. Riepe also appeared as present but didn't vote one way or another, effectively killing LB626. "Pro-life has shades of gray," Riepe said after the vote. Gov. Jim Pillen, who is staunchly pro-life, called on Sen. Riepe following the vote to propose a motion to reconsider it, saying that the senator should remember his pledge to be pro-life. Abortion restriction is not off the table for Riepe, however. "I want stability, and I want something that can go forward," he said, "I'd like to just have another shot at it next year to come up with hopefully some new bill."

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