Nebraska will be the only state in the nation with two abortion-related amendments on the ballot this fall. Today, the Secretary of State’s Office announced that Protect Women & Children and the pro-abortion group backed by the ACLU and Planned Parenthood both gathered enough valid signatures to place their measures on the ballot.
Protect Women & Children’s ballot measure mirrors Nebraska’s current 12-week protection that became law in 2023. The pro-abortion amendment is similar to measures passed in Ohio and Michigan which legalize all-trimester abortion, eviscerate parental rights, end health and safety protections for women, and ensure taxpayer-funded abortion.
State Public Affairs Director for SBA Pro-Life America Kelsey Pritchard warned voters what is at stake in November:
“Nebraska already allows first-trimester abortions but that’s not enough for the ACLU and Planned Parenthood who are attempting to enshrine second- and third-trimester abortion in the constitution.
“The people of Nebraska have a clear choice this November. Either protect life when a baby can smile, suck their thumb, and feel pain OR allow a California-style amendment to bring late-term abortion back to Nebraska. Keep common sense protections on the books to protect women from being sent to ERs OR give Big Abortion a free pass to go completely unregulated. Let parents have a say in their daughters’ lives OR allow girls who aren’t old enough to get their ears pierced on their own to get an abortion without mom or dad . Lives are at stake and so is the health and safety of women and girls.”
The full text of Protect Women & Children’s ballot measure reads:
Except when a woman seeks an abortion necessitated by a medical emergency or when the pregnancy results from sexual assault or incest, unborn children shall be protected from abortion in the second and third trimesters.
Implications of the pro-abortion ballot measure backed by Planned Parenthood and the ACLU include:
- Abortion throughout pregnancy — the amendment leaves post-viability abortion for “health” to the discretion of the abortionist. Without defining “health,” courts have found that it can be based on non-medical factors, including mental, spiritual, financial or familial health. Furthermore, viability is defined as being based solely on the abortionist’s judgment and would not include any baby who needs “extraordinary medical measures,” which could be interprested as any NICU stay. As abortion activists have said, “Roe is the floor, not the ceiling” for their agenda.
- The elimination of health and safety protections for women — Language on the fundamental right to abortion “without interference from the state” puts all of Nebraska’s medical safeguards at risk. The abortion industry includes obtaining informed consent , requiring a waiting period or requiring physician involvement as prohibited by their amendments based on active lawsuits in MI and OH .
- The evisceration of parental rights – By using the words “all persons” in the amendment, this will mean parents will be stripped of existing rights. They may also have no recourse if their daughter is harmed during the abortion.
According a WPA Intelligence poll from 2023, 72% of Nebraskans reject unlimited abortion.
In 2022, Michigan passed Prop 3, an abortion amendment similar to Nebraska’s pro-abortion measure and those being proposed in red states. In the following legislative session, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed a bill to end the state’s partial birth abortion ban. When the legislature was unable to remove informed consent and guarantee taxpayer-funded abortion, the ACLU brought litigation based on the amendment.
The abortion lobby is targeting seven red states with abortion amendments in 2024. In addition to Nebraska, abortion activists are pushing extreme amendments in Arizona, Florida, Montana, South Dakota, Missouri and Arkansas.
