Ballot measures would change abortion rights through Nebraska state Constitution
One ballot measure would guarantee the right to an abortion ‘until fetal viability,’ while another would ban abortions after 12 weeks.
Two competing groups say they have gathered enough petition signatures to get their initiatives on abortion onto Nebraska’s Nov. 5 ballot, but it remains to be seen if voters will get a chance to choose between them.
The Nebraska secretary of state’s office has now started the tedious process of verifying the petition signatures, which involves election officials in all 93 counties and can take more than a month.
One measure would enshrine abortion rights in the state Constitution, while the other would enshrine the state’s 12-week abortion ban in the state Constitution.
The coalition Protect Our Rights submitted a measure that would guarantee the right to get an abortion “until fetal viability … or when needed to protect the life or health of the pregnant patient.” The coalition includes the ACLU of Nebraska, Women’s Fund of Omaha, Nebraska Appleseed, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Nebraska, and the Nebraska Civic Engagement Table.
The Protect Women and Children measure would amend the state Constitution to prohibit abortions after 12 weeks of gestation “except when a woman seeks an abortion necessitated by a medical emergency or when the pregnancy results from sexual assault or incest.” State lawmakers in 2023 changed the statutory limit from 20 weeks to 12 weeks. The measure would allow lawmakers to change the limit again. The coalition promoting the measure includes the Catholic Conference, Nebraska Right to Life and the Nebraska Family Alliance. The measure also is supported by Republican U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts, who served two terms as governor.
Volunteers and paid circulators for both measures were seemingly everywhere across Nebraska for several months, gathering signatures at shopping centers, on street corners and at local festivals.
Nebraska Secretary of State Robert Evnen has said that if both abortion measures get on the ballot, the one receiving the most votes will take effect. A third initiative, Choose Life Now, failed to garner enough signatures to make the ballot. It would have amended the state Constitution to say that a fetus is a person, in effect banning all abortions with no exceptions.
State-level organizers opposing and supporting abortion have been working furiously since 2022, when the U.S. Supreme Court, in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, overturned the 1972 Roe v. Wade decision and the 1992 Planned Parenthood v. Casey decision and returned to each state the power to regulate abortion.
The number of abortions performed in Nebraska dropped nearly 9% in the year after Republican Gov. Jim Pillen signed a law banning the procedure after 12 weeks, according to the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services.
“I believe that every pregnancy is unique and should be treated with dignity and privacy,” Jasmine Smith, an Omaha-based full-spectrum doula, said in a statement released by the ACLU of Nebraska. “Patients and families deserve compassion and to feel empowered to make their own decisions during one of the most personal and impactful times of their lives. Now, they have the chance to make that a reality when they vote in November.”
The Protect the Right to Abortion group reported turning in 207,000 signatures. The Protect Women and Children group submitted petitions containing more than 205,000 signatures, according to the Nebraska Family Alliance.
“We already knew Nebraska was a pro-life state, and these hundreds of thousands of signatures send a clear message that radical abortion policies have no place in our state,” the group said. “We must be the first state to defeat the abortion industry at the ballot box and establish constitutional protections for the unborn.”
Nebraska’s ballot initiative process allows citizens or groups to gather signatures on petitions in order to put a measure on the ballot to change or create laws or amend the Constitution.
The petitions need signatures from at least 10% of registered Nebraska voters, or about 123,000 voters, according to the Nebraska secretary of state’s office. The signatures must come from at least 5% of registered Nebraska voters in 38 of the state’s 93 counties.
Organizers of the failed Choose Life Now anti-abortion petition drive vowed to launch another effort for the next election.
“We are confirmed in our experience and mission, that the majority of Nebraskans want an end to abortion,” the group said in a news release.
