A Nebraska state lawmaker has vowed to filibuster every bill in the legislative session if Republicans don’t immediately withdraw two bills seeking to ban abortion and gender-affirming care.
Nebraska state Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh (D-Omaha) promised to obstruct any legislation from moving forward until the bills are retracted late last week in a speech on the state’s unicameral legislative floor.
The anti-abortion measure would ban almost all abortions in the state after a supposed “fetal heartbeat” is detected — a phrase that physicians specializing in reproductive health say is inaccurate, as the sound generated by an ultrasound early on in pregnancy doesn’t actually indicate that a heart has developed within an embryo. The anti-trans bill would ban physicians in the state from providing transgender youth with gender-affirming care, which can often be life-saving.
“If this legislature collectively decides that legislating hate against children is our priority, then I am going to make it painful; painful for everyone” in the legislature, Cavanaugh said in her speech. “Because if you want to inflict pain upon our children, I am going to inflict pain upon this body.”
“I have nothing, nothing but time,” Cavanaugh went on. “And I am going to use all of it.”
Republicans in state legislatures across the U.S., including in Nebraska, are increasingly introducing legislation that targets LGBTQ youth, barring them from participating in sports and restricting what kinds of treatment they can receive from their doctors, among other measures. One tracker notes that, in 2023 alone, lawmakers have introduced anti-trans proposals in at least 38 states across the country.
Cavanaugh acknowledged that her stance will “annoy” some people. “I want you to genuinely be frustrated to all get out with me,” she said.
The Nebraska lawmaker stressed her dedication to her promise, noting that, after a filibuster last week, she slept on the floor of her office before attending committee hearings 20 minutes later.
“You can not stop me. I will not be stopped,” she said.
Cavanaugh reiterated her promise in a Monday night interview with MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow.
“I’m just going to practically make sure that my colleagues have to make a choice about what it is they want to do, what our job is. Is our job to legislate hate, or is our job to govern and work on tax cuts and work on the economy?” Cavanaugh said. “So I’m forcing their hand.”
We’re not backing down in the face of Trump’s threats.
As Donald Trump is inaugurated a second time, independent media organizations are faced with urgent mandates: Tell the truth more loudly than ever before. Do that work even as our standard modes of distribution (such as social media platforms) are being manipulated and curtailed by forces of fascist repression and ruthless capitalism. Do that work even as journalism and journalists face targeted attacks, including from the government itself. And do that work in community, never forgetting that we’re not shouting into a faceless void – we’re reaching out to real people amid a life-threatening political climate.
Our task is formidable, and it requires us to ground ourselves in our principles, remind ourselves of our utility, dig in and commit.
As a dizzying number of corporate news organizations – either through need or greed – rush to implement new ways to further monetize their content, and others acquiesce to Trump’s wishes, now is a time for movement media-makers to double down on community-first models.
At Truthout, we are reaffirming our commitments on this front: We won’t run ads or have a paywall because we believe that everyone should have access to information, and that access should exist without barriers and free of distractions from craven corporate interests. We recognize the implications for democracy when information-seekers click a link only to find the article trapped behind a paywall or buried on a page with dozens of invasive ads. The laws of capitalism dictate an unending increase in monetization, and much of the media simply follows those laws. Truthout and many of our peers are dedicating ourselves to following other paths – a commitment which feels vital in a moment when corporations are evermore overtly embedded in government.
Over 80 percent of Truthout‘s funding comes from small individual donations from our community of readers, and the remaining 20 percent comes from a handful of social justice-oriented foundations. Over a third of our total budget is supported by recurring monthly donors, many of whom give because they want to help us keep Truthout barrier-free for everyone.
You can help by giving today. Whether you can make a small monthly donation or a larger gift, Truthout only works with your support.