LB574, a bill that combined restrictions on abortion and trans health care for minors was ruled constitutional on July 26 by the Nebraska Supreme Court. The court ruled that the right to review the case was in their purview and that the one subject in the bill was regulating medical professionals.

The Supreme Court’s decision protected the Legislature’s prerogative to decide which bills are related, allowing the last-minute combination of a stricter abortion ban and restrictions on the treatment options of trans minors, according to a July 26 story in the Nebraska Examiner.

Planned Parenthood, represented by ACLU of Nebraska, had argued that LB574 had merged two unrelated ideas that did not succeed on their own and that the merger was unconstitutionally combined to secure votes. 

The court disagreed with the group’s assertion that lawmakers overstepped the constitutional limit requiring bills to address a single subject. The decision could protect the practice of combining multiple bills as long as they address a related topic.

Because the bill’s title was aimed at “public health and welfare,” the court wrote that it sufficiently covered the bill’s contents. 

Justice Lindsey Miller-Lerman issued a partial dissent, writing that a stricter abortion ban and limites on gender-affirming care are not the same subject and disagreed with the majority’s broader interpretation of the single-subject rule.