Planned Parenthood, the ACLU of Nebraska, the Women’s Fund, and I Be Black Girl banded together to file a petition proposal that seeks to enshrine unlimited abortion through all nine months of pregnancy in the Nebraska state constitution.
The proposed petition comes mere weeks after an ALCU-penned abortion amendment passed in Ohio and is part of a coordinated effort by national abortion activists to infiltrate red states, bypass Republican legislators, and taint constitutions with abortion and radical gender ideology provisions.
The national coalition’s attack on unborn babies, women, and parental rights began with a petition that must receive close to 125,000 verified signatures by summer 2024 to put the constitutional amendment on the November 2024 ballot.
Republicans in Nebraska control the governorship, the secretary of state, the attorney general’s office, and the state legislature. Under their watch, Nebraska outlawed abortions beyond 12 weeks gestation in May and banned mail-order abortion pills.
Currently, any woman in the state who seeks an abortion within the permitted 12-week span still has 24 hours after receiving counseling to change her mind about ending her unborn baby’s life. Parents of any minor who seeks an abortion must also be notified of that intent and grant consent.
Under the amendment proposed by the organizations whose funding is threatened by the state’s current abortion limits, Nebraskans would not be able to limit abortion to 15 weeks, something that a majority of Americans say they support.
The petition proposal claims the state would be barred from “interference” in abortions “until fetal viability.” That language alone could eliminate Nebraska’s mandatory waiting period, parental consent laws, ban on mailed chemical abortifacients, and other safeguards designed to protect women and babies.
The proposal also leaves the definition of “viability” in the hands of abortionists. According to this proposal, babies who require “extraordinary medical measures,” such as a trip to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) to survive outside of the womb are not considered viable.
Additionally, the “object” statement includes an exception for any abortions deemed necessary to “protect the life or health of the pregnant patient.” “Health” is not defined as physical and could be easily expanded to justify abortions for financial, emotional, familial, mental, or other reasons.
There are several strategies Nebraska Republicans and the organizations that make up its Pro-Life Coalition can use to fight back, but they must start now to get ahead of the lies and deception that plague ballot fights like this one.
Already, corporate media are amplifying the Nebraska ballot proposal as abortion activists’ next win in a Republican-controlled state.
“Emboldened by success in other red states, effort launched to protect abortion rights in Nebraska,” the Associated Press and Washington Post chimed in.
“Nebraska’s law currently allows abortion throughout the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, but that isn’t enough for the abortion industry and activists who are trying to write second- and third-trimester abortions into our constitution. This amendment would allow for abortion until the moment of birth,” Nebraska Right to Life Executive Director Sandy Danek said in a statement. “This ballot measure is not pro-choice, it’s pro-abortion, and it does not reflect the values of Nebraskans.”
