LINCOLN- Nebraska’s new law that bans abortion at 12 weeks gestational age remains in effect after a judge on Wednesday said she would take under advisement a request to block its enforcement. Lancaster County District Judge Lori Maret said she would issue a written ruling later on a request by Planned Parenthood of the Heartland to place a preliminary injunction on LB574 due to its detrimental impact on abortion providers and medical care.

Arguments occurred for around an hour. Attorneys representing Planned Parenthood and Dr. Sarah Traxler, the medical director for the organization, argued Wednesday that LB 574 violates the Nebraska Constitution’s restriction that legislation contain only a single subject. In opposing the temporary injunction request, the Nebraska Attorney General’s Office has maintained that LB 574 “firmly withstands” questions about its constitutionality because the two matters both deal with public health and welfare.

“This is probably one of the gravest violations of the single subject rule that the court has seen in a very long time,” argued Matthew Segal, a Boston-based attorney with the ACLU. It was done, he added, to make sure both measures passed, raising concerns about “log rolling” — the amending of subjects into a bill to increase support for it. The Attorney Generals' office questioned whether Planned Parenthood and doctors who provide abortions had the right to bring a lawsuit, arguing that physicians have “no vested right” to practice medicine as they please.

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