LINCOLN, Neb. — Nebraska Governor Jim Pillen, Dr. Steve Corsi Chief the Executive Officer of the Department of Human Services and Attorney General Mike Hilgers on Thursday announced an executive order barring Planned Parenthood affiliates and other abortion providers from participating in the state’s Medicaid system, citing both new federal restrictions on abortion funding and a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that strengthened states’ authority to exclude such providers.
“There’s not going to be a penny of Nebraska tax dollars, going to Planned Parenthood clinics,” Pillen said.
Hilgers said the move ensures that “Nebraska tax dollars can’t go to Medicaid clinics that are not approved by DHHS,” emphasizing that no taxpayer funds will be used to support abortion services in the state. The Department of Health and Human Services will track compliance through Medicaid claims and aggregate data and any attempt to reclassify abortion-related procedures to evade the ban would be considered fraud, officials said.
The meeting discussed the recent executive order in Nebraska, which excludes Planned Parenthood affiliates from the state’s Medicaid system due to their abortion services. The executive order is prohibiting federal funds for abortion, the Supreme Court’s decision in the Medina case, and South Carolina’s similar exclusion. The order aims to redirect taxpayer dollars to high-quality providers and address abhorrent conditions in some facilities. The tracking mechanism will likely involve claims data, and any attempt to reclassify procedures to bypass the order would be considered fraud. The governor emphasized the state’s commitment to supporting women’s health without funding abortion services.
The order follows the Supreme Court’s recent Medina decision, which upheld South Carolina’s exclusion of abortion providers from Medicaid. Nebraska leaders pointed to that ruling, and a new federal law prohibiting federal abortion funding, as key legal grounds for the executive order.
Governor Pillen framed the order as part of a broader “culture of life” initiative, saying the state will redirect funds to “high-quality healthcare providers” that do not perform abortions. State officials also cited public reports of “abhorrent conditions” at some Nebraska abortion facilities as justification for the move, though they did not provide new evidence during the announcement.
“The stories of the conditions of those particular facilities are something that you wouldn’t see, you shouldn’t see anywhere, anywhere around the globe, to be quite honest. I think that puts women’s health at risk. Certainly it puts, I think, their baby’s health at risk. And so I just want to challenge the premise that Planned Parenthood is the only place or the or that somehow there’s going to be, like, some significant deterioration of the services provided to women,” Hilgers said.
The order is the latest development in a shifting abortion landscape across Nebraska. Since the passage of Legislative Bill 574 in 2023, abortions are banned after 12 weeks of gestation, with exceptions for rape, incest and threats to the pregnant person’s life or health. The law also prohibits telemedicine abortions and requires parental consent for minors, as well as a 24-hour waiting period.
Despite the restrictions, Nebraska remains a destination for patients from surrounding states with stricter bans. In 2022 according to The Lozier Institute, about 21% of abortions in the state were for out-of-state residents, largely from Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, South Dakota, Texas and Oklahoma. By 2025, only two abortion clinics remain operational, one in Bellevue, which now offers only medication abortions and another in the Omaha/Lincoln region.
Supporters of the executive order argue it will ensure that taxpayer dollars are not used for abortion services, while critics warn it could further limit access to reproductive healthcare in a state where options are already scarce.
Nebraska now stands among several states, following South Carolina and Oklahoma, that have formally cut abortion providers, including Planned Parenthood affiliates, from their Medicaid programs.
