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State Sens. Tanya Storer of Whitman, left, and Merv Riepe of Ralston. Jan. 29, 2026. (Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner)
LINCOLN — In the first cloture vote of Nebraska’s 2026 legislative session, lawmakers rejected an attempt to update state abortion statutes to require screenings for coercion and abuse.
Legislative Bill 669, introduced by State Sen. Tanya Storer of Whitman, failed in a 31-15 vote Wednesday following a four-hour filibuster that spanned four days. The bill needed 33 votes to overcome the filibuster and advance to the second round of floor debate.
LB 669 would update Nebraska’s informed consent laws to require women be screened for coercion and abuse when they go in for an abortion appointment. Supporters wanted to vote on an amendment that would broaden the scope to require the same screenings for all pregnancies, but the Legislature ran out of time to vote on the amendment.
Storer argued the bill was necessary to give victims of domestic violence and sex trafficking a lifeline that could be their only option to escape. She and other supporters noted that sex trafficking is on the rise in Nebraska and across the U.S.
State Sen. George Dungan of Lincoln, who opposed the bill, said he felt LB 669’s approach was trying to solve a problem upstream, because abusers more often coerce victims to remain pregnant, rather than force them into an abortion. Storer countered that the approach doesn’t matter as much as the aid LB 669 would offer.
“I don’t care where we’re at in the stream,” Storer said. “We need to be throwing out life jackets.”
Floor debate on LB 669 began with a stated willingness from opponents to possibly compromise with Storer on a developing amendment.
Storer agreed with the opposing argument that LB 669 was too narrowly focused on abortion patients, and on Monday released an amendment, AM 1924, that would broaden the bill to require screenings for pregnant patients at their first doctor’s appointment.
Storer said she didn’t see LB 669 as partisan, or even an abortion bill. Instead, she described it as “pro-women” and “anti-domestic violence.”
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However, State Sen. Megan Hunt of Omaha, who led the filibuster effort, said it wasn’t up to Storer to decide if the bill became political, arguing that abortion-related issues would naturally become so.
While Hunt said she was initially open to Storer’s amendment, she later opposed the amendment after seeing it, because Hunt argued it would give obstetricians and other physicians an unnecessary “extra chore.” She also noted that Storer and other supporters didn’t consult with medical professionals on the amendment and said the Nebraska Medical Association opposed it.
Storer took issue with Hunt’s argument, saying that such screenings would align with the hippocratic oath physicians take.
“These women are not a box to check,” Storer said.
State Sen. Merv Riepe of Ralston, a known swing vote on past abortion bills, was the only Republican who voted no on the filibuster-ending cloture motion. Riepe, a former hospital administrator, said he did not support AM 1924 or the underlying bill because he agreed it would create hardships for OBGYNs.
State Sen. Teresa Ibach of Sumner was another Republican who didn’t support the cloture motion, but instead abstained from the vote. She said she did so because the Nebraska Medical Association, along with a physician in her district, opposed the bill.
Riepe said he believes Nebraska’s abortion statutes already have adequate protections in place for sex trafficking and abuse and agreed debate on the bill had become overly politicized. He pointed to the bill’s public hearing in 2025, when most of the supporting testifiers represented anti-abortion groups, while the Nebraska Coalition to End Sexual and Domestic Violence testified neutral.
“The right to life [factions] have hijacked this bill,” Riepe said.
Storer noted that LB 669 saw at least one supporting testifier representing a local domestic violence support group, Innocence Freed.
In 2023, Riepe was the sole Republican vote who prevented a bill from advancing that would have increased Nebraska’s abortion restrictions to six weeks, under LB 626, known then as a “heartbeat bill.” He said he voted with his constituents then as he did Wednesday, and he didn’t want to allow an opening for similar restrictions to be entertained this year.
“I’m not revisiting 626,” Riepe said.
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Editor’s Note: This story was revised to clarify which medical association opposed the bill.
