{"id":319210,"date":"2024-09-24T12:46:47","date_gmt":"2024-09-24T17:46:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=319210"},"modified":"2024-09-25T11:19:46","modified_gmt":"2024-09-25T16:19:46","slug":"nebraska-competing-abortion-amendments-ballot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/nebraska-competing-abortion-amendments-ballot\/","title":{"rendered":"Liberty Counsel: Nebraska will have competing abortion amendments on the ballot"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

Disclaimer: This article is a reprint from Liberty Counsel and does not necessarily reflect the views of Live Action or Live Action News.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

(Liberty Counsel<\/a>) In a recent landmark decision, the Nebraska Supreme Court unanimously ruled<\/a> in three lawsuits that two competing abortion proposals to amend the state constitution can go on the November ballot. The rulings set up Nebraska voters to choose between a pro-life amendment that would enshrine the state\u2019s current 12-week abortion ban into the state constitution or a pro-abortion amendment that would enshrine a right to abortion throughout all nine months of pregnancy.<\/p>\n

As a result, Nebraska will be the first state to have competing abortion amendments on the same ballot. However, both cannot be enshrined into the state constitution. The one that receives the most \u201cfor\u201d votes and has the support of at least 35 percent of voters casting ballots is the one that will be ratified.<\/p>\n

Abortion is currently legal in Nebraska through the first trimester, or 12th<\/sup> week of pregnancy. Therefore, the proposed \u201cProtect Women and Children<\/a>\u201d amendment would essentially enshrine protections for unborn children in the second and third trimesters except in cases of rape, incest, or when the mother experiences a medical emergency. The Protect Women and Children Nebraska Committee<\/a>, comprised of four medical professionals, sponsored the amendment as a response to the state\u2019s pro-abortion measure to give voters an alternative choice that would \u201csafeguard\u201d health protections for women and provide \u201ccommonsense\u201d abortion limits in the state. The ballot language reads:<\/p>\n

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.<\/i><\/p>\n

The proposed pro-abortion amendment is the \u201cProtect the Right to Abortion<\/a>\u201d initiative. The amendment, sponsored by the Protect Our Rights Campaign, would enshrine a \u201cfundamental right to abortion until fetal viability\u201d into the state constitution. It would also allow abortions after viability to protect the life and health of the mother. The ballot language reads:<\/p>\n

All persons shall have a fundamental right to abortion until fetal viability, or when needed to protect the life or health of the pregnant patient, without interference from the state or its political subdivisions. Fetal viability means the point in pregnancy when, in the professional judgment of the patient\u2019s treating health care practitioner, there is a significant likelihood of the fetus\u2019 sustained survival outside the uterus without the application of extraordinary medical measures.<\/i>\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Pro-life groups consider this abortion amendment \u201cbroad<\/a>\u201d and \u201cextreme<\/a>.\u201d The amendment\u2019s language, such as \u201cwithout interference from the state,\u201d and \u201chealth,\u201d suggest it would permit abortions through all nine months of pregnancy and impede the state from enacting any future protections for women and unborn children.<\/p>\n

On August 23, 2024, Nebraska Secretary of State Robert Evnen certified both the citizen-led proposals for having received more than 200,000 public signatures, which was well over the required 123,000 to get on the ballot. Shortly thereafter, the three lawsuits commenced.<\/p>\n

The Nebraska Supreme Court heard oral arguments in early September 2024 consolidating two challenges to the pro-abortion initiative. Pro-life challengers claimed the proposed amendment violated the state\u2019s constitutional requirement to deal with only a single subject as to avoid voter confusion. They contended<\/a> it involved three subjects that should be voted on separately, such as late-term abortions, limiting regulations on abortion procedures, and who qualifies to perform an abortion. The legal defense for the pro-abortion amendment conceded that the Court will have to \u201cdraw some boundary\u201d in the future but that the amendment is just one subject pertaining to \u201climiting government interference with abortion.\u201d<\/p>\n

The third challenge simultaneously asked the Court to also examine the pro-life amendment under the single-subject lens. The challengers asserted<\/a> it not only creates rights for both the unborn and for certain pregnant women but attempts to regulate pregnancy in the second and third trimesters. The legal defense for the pro-life amendment said it just creates rights for \u201cone class\u201d of people \u2013 unborn children \u2013 and that the amendment\u2019s clauses are all \u201cnaturally\u201d connected. Ultimately, the lawsuit advised the Court to consider both abortion amendments equally and recommended they both \u201cshould rise or fall together.\u201d In other words, the pro-abortion challengers suggested the Court either strike both from the ballot or keep both on the ballot conceding that if the Court found fault in one of the proposals, then the same fault existed in the other.<\/p>\n

In its rulings<\/a>, the Nebraska Supreme Court held that neither ballot initiative violated the single-subject rule.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause we determined\u2026that the [Protect the Right to Abortion initiative] did not violate the single subject rule, [plaintiffs] have effectively admitted that the [Protect Women and Children initiative] also would not violate the rule. But even without this concession, we determine\u2026that the [Protect Women and Children initiative] does not violate the single subject rule.\u201d<\/p>\n

A total of 10<\/a> states across the country will have abortion on the ballot this November. In addition to Nebraska, measures to protect abortion access or enshrine a right to abortion will also go before voters in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, New York, Nevada, and South Dakota.<\/p>\n

Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver stated, \u201cNebraska has the opportunity to become either a pro-life state or a pro-death state this November. Voters should understand that the pro-abortion amendment will place women at extreme risk while the pro-life amendment will protect women and unborn children later in pregnancy.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more information about each state\u2019s proposed abortion amendments, visit Liberty Counsel\u2019s website\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published at Liberty Counsel<\/a> and is reprinted here with permission.<\/em><\/p>\n

Urge Walmart, Costco, Kroger, and other major chains to resist pressure to dispense the abortion pill<\/i><\/b><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Disclaimer: This article is a reprint from Liberty Counsel and does not necessarily reflect the views of Live Action or Live Action News. (Liberty Counsel) In a recent landmark decision, the Nebraska Supreme Court unanimously ruled in three lawsuits that two competing abortion proposals to amend the state constitution can go on the November ballot. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":686,"featured_media":310890,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[7077,11],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nLiberty Counsel: Nebraska will have competing abortion amendments on the ballot<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The one that receives the most \u201cfor\u201d votes and has the support of at least 35% of voters casting ballots is the one that will be ratified.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/nebraska-competing-abortion-amendments-ballot\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Liberty Counsel: Nebraska will have competing abortion amendments on the 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