That's when two new laws kick in: One requires girls 17 or under to get written, notarized consent from a parent before having an abortion, and the other prevents doctors from prescribing and opening containers of abortion-causing drugs at remote locations over the Internet, referred to as "telemedicine."
According to the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, approximately 143 of the 2,464 abortions statewide last year were performed on minors.
No abortions were done through telemedicine — but Nebraska Right to Life lobbied for the ban nonetheless after seeing the practice spread in neighboring Iowa.
There, women can visit any of 16 Planned Parenthood facilities for a pregnancy test and ultrasound. After being examined by a nurse, the woman then logs onto the Internet on a clinic computer, and chats with a Planned Parenthood abortionist. He can remotely open a container with abortion-causing drugs near the woman's computer console and tell her how to take them.
"We stopped something before it started," Nebraska Right to Life Executive Director Julie Schmit-Albin told the Omaha World-Herald. "There was a very real threat."
Contact: Karla Dial
Source: CitizenLink
