Nebraska mothers to appeal ruling upholding home-birth ban

Lincoln, Nebraska; September 25, 2026: Two expectant mothers will ask the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit to hear their case after a federal judge today denied their request to block Nebraska’s ban on midwife-assisted home births. Emily Tvrdy and Amanda Musilek are suing Nebraska for the right to have a licensed certified nurse midwife attend their home births, a choice rooted in their religious beliefs.

“The court agreed that Nebraska’s ban substantially burdens our clients’ religious exercise, then upheld it anyway,” said Joshua Polk, an attorney with Pacific Legal Foundation. “Nebraska allows unassisted home births, and the state’s own witness admitted physician assistants may legally attend home births despite lacking the expertise to do so safely. Yet the state claims it has no choice but to bar the most qualified providers from helping. We’re asking the Eighth Circuit to let these mothers make this deeply personal decision for themselves.”

Tvrdy, a labor-and-delivery nurse, and Musilek filed suit in June. The court agreed Nebraska’s ban substantially burdens their religious exercise under the state’s First Freedom Act, but ruled that the ban is the least restrictive way to protect a compelling governmental interest, and separately held the ban survives a First Amendment challenge on a lower standard of review.

A win at the Eighth Circuit would let Tvrdy and Musilek give birth at home with a trained medical professional at their side while they continue the legal fight to extend that same choice to all mothers.

Pacific Legal Foundation represents Tvrdy and Musilek free of charge. The case is Emily Tvrdy and Amanda Musilek v. Hilgers.