Nebraska lawmakers expected to pass bill combining youth gender surgery ban with 12-week abortion ban

Lawmakers in Nebraska are expected to pass a bill combining a 12-week abortion ban with a ban on gender surgeries for minors. The measure was advanced by a single vote.

Omaha Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh has led an effort to filibuster nearly every bill this session — even ones she supports — to protest the ban on gender surgery for minors. She has railed against conservatives who voted for the hybrid bill and warned that people, medical professionals and businesses will leave the state over it.

Cavanaugh declared in early March that she would "burn the session to the ground over this bill," and she and a handful of progressive allies have followed through since. They have introduced hundreds of amendments and motions to slow every bill at every stage of debate, impeding the work of the Legislature and sending leadership scrambling to prioritize which bills to push through.