Closure appears near for unusual collision of abortion, immigration politics in Nebraska

Immigration concerns trump abortion worry in Neb.

LINCOLN, Neb. — Opposition to taxpayer benefits for illegal immigrants appears to have trumped anti-abortion sentiments in Nebraska, likely ending an unusual collision of the two explosive political issues.

After meeting with Gov. Dave Heineman on Wednesday night, a lawmaker said the governor opposed a compromise that would continue providing state-funded prenatal care to illegal immigrants in Nebraska. Supporters of the compromise — which included the use of money from private donors — said they don’t have enough votes this year to override a Heineman veto and may not have had the votes even without the governor’s outright opposition.

“The chances are very slim right now,” said Sen. Brad Ashford of Omaha after the meeting with Heineman. Ashford crafted the proposal, which hinged on Omaha donors pitching in about $3 million this year, so women could continue receiving state-funded prenatal care. “We took a stab at it but it’s clear options now are very, very limited.”

Heineman characterized the meeting as “respectful and straightforward” in a statement Wednesday night.

“I have repeatedly said that I support prenatal care for legal residents,” he said. “I do not support providing state-funded benefits for illegal individuals.”

Lawmakers had faced a dilemma for weeks: Was it more important to care for pregnant women and their unborn children, or prevent illegal immigrants from getting taxpayer-funded benefits?

Until early this month, Nebraska had the nation’s only Medicaid policy that allowed unborn children to qualify. That meant women who weren’t eligible for the government-run insurance program on their own — such as illegal immigrants — got Medicaid-covered prenatal care because their unborn children qualified.

After federal officials told Nebraska it was breaking Medicaid rules, the state tried to come up with a substitute. That effort died more than a week ago.

But reports from doctors of several women saying they will have abortions instead because they couldn’t afford prenatal care reignited the issue. Until Wednesday night, there appeared to be a chance lawmakers would formally consider a proposal.

The overall issue of whether to continue prenatal care for illegal immigrants revealed philosophical divides among both Democrats and Republicans.

“Whichever way you vote, you are compromising a core principle,” said Sen. Tony Fulton of Lincoln, before Ashford and others met with Heineman. A Republican opposed to abortion, Fulton was leaning in favor of extending prenatal benefits to illegal immigrants but phasing out such funding over time.

Sen. Scott Lautenbaugh of Omaha, a Republican who also describes himself as against abortion but who was leaning against providing state-funded care to illegal immigrants said, “You’re darned if you do and darned if you don’t.”

Some lawmakers crinkled their brows and became solemn when speaking about their positions on the issue. Others got angry when arguing that the issue was strictly about illegal immigration, not anti-abortion sentiment. One normally open lawmaker refused to talk publicly about the issue, worried it could hurt him in the upcoming election.

Heineman, meanwhile, has tried to stay out of the fray. Running for re-election, the Republican quietly announced his opposition to state-funded prenatal care for illegal immigrants last month in a letter to a legislative committee.

State officials say about 870 illegal immigrants and 750 legal residents including citizens lost Medicaid coverage this month when Nebraska dumped its two-decade-old Medicaid policy. More than 4,700 legal residents once considered at risk of losing coverage got to keep it because state officials found they qualified under different provisions of Medicaid.

The reports of more women seeking abortions — which some lawmakers are openly skeptical of — spurred a renewed push to create a separate, non-Medicaid program under which illegal immigrants and some legal residents would get state- and federal-funded prenatal care. Now very unlikely to be formed, it would have been created under the federal Children’s Health Insurance Program, which allows unborn children to qualify for federal- and state-funded care.

About a dozen other states have similar programs that are a hybrid of state and federal funding.

The conservative divide on the overall question in Nebraska was clear.

“This is not a pro-life issue,” said state Republican Party chairman Mark Fahleson. “It is about conferring taxpayer funded benefits to illegal immigrants.”

The position of the state’s politically influential anti-abortion group, Nebraska Right to Life, normally aligns with the state GOP.

Not this time.

Nebraska Right to Life was hoping for a vote in favor of prenatal care, and the group’s director said she hasn’t heard one complaint from any of the group’s hundreds of volunteers that it should change its position.

“I don’t know where this supposed groundswell of opposition from anti-illegal immigration folks is coming from,” said Julie Schmit-Albin.

On the Net:

Nebraska Legislature: www.nebraskalegislature.gov