Nebraska could have three abortion measures on the ballot in November election
One of the three measures would enshrine the right to abortion in the Constitution, while another would ban it completely.
This election season, Nebraska voters could find themselves voting on three separate constitutional ballot measures involving abortion. One of the measures would ban it, one would enshrine complete and legal access to it in the state Constitution, and one would codify the state’s current 12-week ban.
Before the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization in June 2022 that reversed Roe v. Wade, Nebraska had a 20-week ban on abortion. A year after the ruling, the state Legislature passed a 12-week ban.
All three of the proposed measures require the valid petition signatures of 10% of the state’s registered voters from at least 38 counties by July 3 to earn a spot on the ballot. The actual number comprising 10% will be determined after the collection period, but will likely be about 123,000.
The measure submitted by Protect Our Rights, a coalition of nine organizations — the ACLU of Nebraska, I Be Black Girl, Women’s Fund of Omaha, Nebraska Appleseed, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Nebraska, She’s Electable, Nebraska Abortion Resources, the Nebraska Civic Engagement Table, and The Fairness Project — would enshrine the safe and legal right to abortion in the Nebraska Constitution.
“Our goal is to put the decision about pregnancy and abortion on the ballot so that Nebraskans are able to make decisions about health care, not the government,” Taylor Givens-Dunn, the policy and power building manager of the reproductive rights organization I Be Black Girl, told the Nebraska Independent. “The object of this petition is to change the Nebraska Constitution, to provide all persons a fundamental right to abortion without interference and really protect that in the Constitution.”
The Protect Our Rights measure does not specify the number of weeks up to which abortion would be legal, but sets the boundary at “fetal viability.” According to the measure’s text, the determination of fetal viability, or the ability of the fetus to live outside the uterus without extraordinary medical intervention, would be up to “the professional judgment of the patient’s health care practitioner.” It also allows the provider to determine exceptions for the health and life of the patient.
In June 2023, Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen made it clear that he intended to oppose any attempts to codify reproductive rights, saying, “We’re going to end abortion.”
Givens-Dunn said that the Protect Our Rights measure would “make it harder for Nebraska politicians to ban abortion outright in the state.”
A measure proposing a “Protect Women and Children Constitutional Amendment” would enshrine the state’s current 12-week ban in the state Constitution. The measure, supported by the anti-abortion groups Nebraska Right to Life, the Nebraska Family Alliance, and Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, would also allow for more restrictive legislation to be put in place in the future, noting that it “establishes a ceiling on abortion, but not a floor.”
According to the Nebraska Examiner, Protect Women and Children, the organization behind the ballot measure drive received $500,000 from Nebraska Republican Sen. Pete Ricketts.
“As U.S. Senator, I continue to prioritize the fight for life and have co-sponsored three key pieces of pro-life legislation,” Ricketts said in a statement in 2023. “Regardless of where individuals fall on the issue of abortion, a strong majority of Americans agree taxpayer dollars shouldn’t be used to fund abortions.”
The third ballot initiative is backed by a group called Choose Life Now, and its objective is to amend current law and the state Constitution to recognize the “personhood of the preborn child.” Fetal personhood laws assign the legal rights of a person to fetuses and embryos.
Additionally, the Choose Life Now website says that there should be no exceptions to bans on abortion even in cases of rape, incest, or the “health of the mother.”
“We want to see the babies live, and that’s going to be a beautiful day when life is protected and respected,” Rose Kohl, a sponsor of the measure, told USA Today.
Nebraska Secretary of State Bob Evnen told the Nebraska Examiner that if voters pass more than one of the three measures, the one with the most votes will be adopted. Nebraska state law provides that the governor, currently Republican Jim Pillen, would determine whether passed measures are in legal conflict with one another.
