After fielding three lawsuits pertaining to the legality of dueling abortion rights ballot petitions, the Nebraska Supreme Court has ruled to allow the measures on the November ballot.
Two lawsuits aimed to block the Protect Our Rights petition, which would protect abortion access up to fetal viability (around 22-24 weeks). Another lawsuit argued that both this measure and the Protect Women and Children petition, which limits access beyond 12-14 weeks, should either appear on the ballot together or not at all.
Nebraska’s highest court unanimous ruled, 7-0, that both initiatives were in accordance with the state’s constitutional requirement that ballot measures pertain to one singular subject — rejecting arguments from attorneys with the Thomas More Society, a Catholic-conservative law firm based in Chicago, that the Protect Our Rights petition is “unconstitutionally riddled with separate subjects.”
Nebraska voters will be the first in the nation to weigh competing abortion-related initiatives on the same ballot since Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022.
“Trojan Horse”
Thomas More Society Senior Counsel Matt Heffron reacted to the courts ruling, characterizing the petition as a “trojan horse” and “intentionally deceptive,” saying its passage would allow for “unregulated late-term abortions.”
“If passed, this would be a sea-change, overturning nearly 50 years of Nebraska laws on abortion,” said Heffron.
According to the ballot language put forth by Secretary of State Bob Evnen, who asked the court to greenlight a reversal of his initial certification of the initiative, the Protect Our Rights measure would: “provide that 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 is defined as the point in pregnancy when, in the professional judgment of the patient’s treating health care practitioner, there is a significant likelihood of the fetus’ sustained survival outside the uterus without the application of extraordinary medical measures.
The Protect Women and Children Nebraska Committee did not bemoan the court’s decision, saying voters will have the choice in November to “reject the extreme Protect the Right to Abortion amendment that invites government intrusion between a woman and her doctor, giving unlicensed individuals influence over minors in crisis, and paves the way for taxpayer-funded abortions.”
They also clarified that the Protect Women and Children initiative provides exceptions for rape, incest, medical emergency and the life of the mother.
“We are on the ballot.”
Campaign Manager of Protect Our Rights Allie Berry said the courts decision was “a victory for all Nebraskans” in reaction Friday morning.
“Anti-abortion politicians forced an abortion ban into law and then coordinated with activists to launch desperate lawsuits to silence over 200,000 Nebraskans by preventing them from voting on what happens to their bodies,” said Berry. “They know Nebraskans want to end the harmful abortion ban and stop government overreach in their personal and private healthcare decisions. Today, their plans failed and we’re grateful the Supreme Court unanimously affirmed what we’ve said from the beginning: Let the people vote!”
The campaign pointed to the current state of abortion access in Nebraska since state lawmakers narrowly approved a 12 week abortion ban through LB 574, otherwise known as the Let Them Grow Act, saying the Protect Our Rights ballot measure “is the only thing standing in the way” of politicians who “want a total abortion ban.”
“Right now, patients with pregnancy complications after 12 weeks are being delayed and restricted care or must leave the state to get the help they need — putting their lives, fertility, and physical and mental health at risk. The competing ballot initiative does nothing to help these patients, making the current ban permanent and leaving the door open for a total abortion ban in the state. A vote for Protect Our Rights will end the current harmful abortion ban and stop political interference in the future,” Berry said
You can read the ballot language for both measures here.