LINCOLN- State lawmakers took a step Tuesday toward requiring Nebraska health care facilities that perform procedural abortions to dispose of the remains by cremation or burial. Legislative Bill 632, from State Sen. Ben Hansen of Blair, advanced 34-11, with one senator who voted “yes” saying after that he had done so inadvertently. However, whether the bill will have the 33 votes needed to keep moving forward depends on negotiations between Hansen and State Sen. Merv Riepe of Ralston for a possible amendment.

Hansen has described the intent of LB 632 as uplifting the “dignity” of an aborted fetus, similar to a 2003 Nebraska law requiring hospitals to have a written policy for the proper disposition of the remains of any child born dead at a Nebraska hospital.

State Sen. Ashlei Spivey of Omaha, whose nonprofit I Be Black Girl is focused on reproductive justice, led opposition to the bill. She was a key part of an unsuccessful ballot measure in 2024 to expand abortion rights in the state to the point of fetal viability. Spivey blasted the bill as a “back door attempt to ban abortions” in the state, which Hansen repeatedly denied.

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