FILE - Nebraska state Sen. Megan Hunt addresses a crowd on April 12, 2023, in the Nebraska state Capitol rotunda in Lincoln, Neb., during a rally to oppose a bill that would ban abortion once cardiac activity can be detected in an embryo. (AP Photo/Margery Beck, File)

Nebraska state Sen. Megan Hunt (I) took her Republican colleagues to task on Thursday when two of them complained about their personal lives suffering from a months-long filibuster on a gender-affirming care ban bill.

“Sen. [Lou Ann] Linehan complaining about missing her grandson’s graduation, I hate that for you. I’m so sorry. Seriously I would hate that to happen to me,” Hunt said. “And I’m happy you’re listening, because I’m only asking you, we are only here doing this because of LB 574, period. I am not asking you to sit here through late nights to vote on these bills that were dragging out. I’m asking you to love your family more than you hate mine.”

The nonpartisan but left-leaning Hunt has been alongside Democratic Sens. Machaela Cavanaugh and Jen Day in conducting a session-long filibuster on a piece of legislation that will restrict abortion and ban gender affirming care in Nebraska. Hunt has a son who is transgender, making this bill personally destructive to her family if it passes. Despite the severity of this bill, Republicans on the other side of the aisle complained about the filibuster.

Sen. Ray Aguilar (R) opted to return to the Senate floor soon after receiving two knee surgeries in order to vote for LB 574, to the chagrin of his family. Earlier Thursday, Linehan voiced her displeasure at missing her grandson’s pre-school graduation because of the filibuster, which included sessions going late into the night. However, Hunt pointed out that neither of them did not have to return to vote for the bill.

“If your family wants you home to recover from surgery, maybe you should do that. If you want to go see your grandson graduate from pre-school, maybe you should do that,” Hunt continued. “Instead, you are here to drag out this session because you won’t come off this bill that hurts my son. You hate him more than you love your own family and that’s why you’re here.”

The Nebraska Assembly will vote on LB 574 on Friday, and it will likely pass due to the Republican majority in the officially nonpartisan legislature and the Republican Gov. Jim Pillen. Many previous Republican holdovers are likely to vote for the bill since a 12-week abortion ban was merged into the bill.