Candidate positions on prenatal care legislation will be considered when Nebraska Right to Life hands out its endorsements next month.

"It will be discussed," Julie Schmit-Albin said Wednesday, even though the legislative issue developed too late to be included in the pro-life organization's candidate questionnaires.

They were mailed 10 days ago.

"We may end up changing our voter guide to reflect key votes/actions rather than just report (candidate) answers to the survey," she said.

Schmit-Albin is executive director of the statewide organization, which claims a growing database of 67,000 identified pro-life households.

The prenatal care bill being considered by the Nebraska Legislature has driven a rare wedge between Republican Gov. Dave Heineman and Nebraska Right to Life.

The organization supports the bill, which would provide prenatal care and assistance for all low-income pregnant women, including illegal immigrants.

It's a pro-life issue, Schmit-Albin has said.

Heineman opposes the legislation, arguing that taxpayers should not pay for services for illegal immigrants.

The bill (LB1110) cleared the Legislature's Health and Human Services Committee Tuesday on a 6-1 vote and was sent to the floor for debate.

Schmit-Albin said she does not know how much weight will be attached to the prenatal care bill when her organization's political action committee considers endorsements.

"I just won't know until we have our discussion whether it will be a deal-breaker issue like (a ban on) cloning was," she said in an e-mail.

The deadline for candidates to return questionnaires is March 26.

Endorsements will be released the first week of April.

The questionnaire largely centers on abortion issues, but also asks candidates whether they would support a ban on embryonic stem cell research.

The organization opposed the University of Nebraska Board of Regents' recent decision to expand such research at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

Although a legislative proposal had been discussed, no bill was introduced this year seeking a return to limitations that previously adhered to Bush administration guidelines.

One of the questions in the Right to Life survey is this: "In the Legislature, many want to be known as pro-life and will vote pro-life, but few senators are willing to introduce pro-life bills. Can Nebraska Right to Life count on you to seriously consider introducing pro-life legislation that we would like to see pursued?"

Reach Don Walton at 473-7248 or dwalton@journalstar.com.