Voters in 10 states will weigh in on abortion-rights ballot measures this November, but only Nebraskans will cast ballots on two competing initiatives. Initiative 439 State constitutional rights to abortion will be established until fetal viability or if necessary to protect the “health or life” of the pregnant patient. Initiative 434However, it would prohibit abortion in the second and third trimesters, with exceptions for sexual assault, rape or medical emergencies.
“We hear all the time how confusing the two systems are and how people are too afraid to check what’s wrong,” said Shelley Mann, executive director of Nebraska Abortion Resources (NEAR), the only statewide abortion fund in Nebraska.
Much of the confusion surrounding the competing proposals is intentional, and perhaps a preview of new tactics being developed in the anti-abortion playbook.
Beginning in May 2023, abortion before the first trimester has been banned in Nebraska, and last fall reproductive choice advocates launched a ballot measure campaign to restore and expand access. Anti-abortion leaders have launched a competing system Four months later. (The proposed anti-abortion ballot measure would not expand current restrictions, but it would embed existing second- and third-trimester restrictions in Nebraska’s state constitution. This would make it significantly more difficult for the legislature or the courts to roll back these restrictions later.)
While collecting signatures, some canvassers for the Protect Women and Children campaign misrepresented themselves as advocating expanding access to abortion, causing hundreds of Nebraskans to mistakenly sign their petitions.
Realizing their mistake, more than 300 of those voters signed affidavits to remove their names from anti-abortion petitions, marking the highest number of removal requests in state history. (Over 205,000 (People signed a total anti-abortion petition.)
More recently, Catherine Brooks — a Neonatal Pediatrician WHO Filed a legal objection To block a pro-abortion rights measure from appearing on the Nebraska ballot — appeared A TV commercial In which she portrays herself as an advocate of reproductive freedom fighting against government intrusion into medicine.
“As a doctor, I want compassionate, clear, scientific standards of care,” Brooks said in the ad. “As a mother, I want to keep the government out of the relationship between a woman and her physician. Initiative 439 pretends to protect our rights but does the opposite. It allows government officials to intervene in medical decisions and take care out of the hands of licensed physicians, when women in crisis need it most.”
There is little doubt that Republicans in Nebraska hope to limit existing abortions Which was a 12 week ban Legislation passed after lawmakers Failed briefly To impose a six week limit. Nebraska’s Republican governor, Jim Pillen Publicly pledged To continue fighting until abortion is completely banned in his state.
The outcome of this dual ballot proposal could affect pregnant people nationwide, not just in Nebraska. Abortion rights activists have sounded the alarm, warning that if Initiative 434 succeeds in November, anti-abortion leaders will export their winning strategy elsewhere — using the language of reproductive freedom to advance seemingly moderate measures that obscure the long-term goals of deeper restrictions.
Nebraska’s 12-week abortion ban has already caused damage
A 12-week abortion ban passed by Nebraska lawmakers in May 2023 includes exceptions for pregnancies due to rape or incest or to save the mother’s life.
As in other states, these exceptions have proven unclear to doctors on the ground, and many patients who need abortion care have been unable to get it.
Kim Paseka, a 34-year-old woman based in Lincoln, Nebraska, was one of those patients. Paseka lives with her husband and their 3-year-old son, and although they want at least two children, they were unsure about pursuing it in Nebraska. Ro was overturned.
“We knew it was probably inevitable that our state government was going to act in some capacity to ban reproductive health care, and that certainly gave us pause, like should we move, are we going to stay and fight? Those were our dinner table conversations,” she told Vox. In the summer of 2023, just after Nebraska lawmakers passed their 12-week ban, Paseka found out she was pregnant again.
Initial blood tests looked good, but after a routine ultrasound, Paseka was informed that her baby’s heartbeat was slower than expected. At the next appointment, doctors determined that the heartbeat was slowing down and that Paseka was carrying a nonviable pregnancy.
Because of the new restrictions and because Paseka’s life was not immediately threatened, her doctors did not feel comfortable terminating the pregnancy. They sent him home with orders.”Anticipatory management” – means waiting until she finally bleeds with abortion.
“I had to go back to the hospital for three more scans, where I could see that the heartbeat was getting weaker week by week, and during this whole time I was very nauseous, I was tired, I was feeling regular everything. Pregnancy symptoms, but I was carrying a non-viable pregnancy,” she said. It took Paseka about a month to finally induce pregnancy bleeding at home.
“In Nebraska, we have these exceptions, but in my situation it wasn’t assault, it wasn’t molestation and my life wasn’t in immediate danger, so I automatically lose health care,” he said. “They’re forgetting how damaging it can be to mental health, it’s not just about physical danger. … I felt like a walking coffin.”
Mann, executive director of the Nebraska Statewide Abortion Fund, emphasized that the 12-week ban has had far-reaching consequences that most people underestimate.
“Not only are people now restricted in how and when they can get the care they need, but it’s even more problematic that these rules are designed to be confusing and were brought in at a time when confusion was at an all-time high,” he told Vox. “We talk to callers and community members all the time who don’t know if and when abortion is legal in Nebraska.”
There are two remaining abortion clinics in the state, though both only perform part-time abortions, meaning sometimes there aren’t enough appointments to get there, for patients traveling from states with near-total bans like Iowa and South Dakota.
“This means that not only are patients who exceed the 12-week limit forced to flee the state for care, but patients under that restriction sometimes have to travel to get appointments on time,” Mann explained. “These patients are going to places like Minneapolis, Chicago, and Denver … This travel is often expensive, inconvenient, and overall a huge burden on pregnant people.”
Anti-abortion leaders plan to push for more bans in Nebraska
Initiative 434, also known as the Abortion Ban After the First Trimester Amendment, sounds almost like a measure to protect abortion access during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. That proposal, which is happening Initially funded by Nebraska Billionaire and US Sen. Pete Ricketts, actually, doesn’t.
On top of codifying the state’s existing ban on abortion past 12 weeks into Nebraska’s constitution, the measure allows lawmakers to pass more legal restrictions on top of that. Put differently, it strengthens the abortion ban but provides no meaningful increase in abortion access.
Marion Miner, associate director of “Pro-Life and Family Policy” at the Nebraska Catholic Conference, emphasized a Video posted in Summer that he does not see Initiative 434 as “an acceptable final resolution” because it “does not protect all unborn children,” including those born from sexual abuse or abuse.
“This is an incomplete proposal … a growing pro-life initiative that takes one small step to protect unborn life without preventing us from doing more,” Miner said, stressing Initiative 434 “will allow for additional protections in the future.”
More than a century ago, Nebraska lawmakers enacted a law stating that if two conflicting state constitutional ballot measures passed, the measure with the highest number of votes would be adopted. According to Nebraska Secretary of State Bob Evenen, if both Initiative 439 and Initiative 434 pass, it could be the first time the 1912 law could be used.
“It is possible that one of the proposals may be approved and not accepted,” Yvonne said told NPR in May. “It will come down to, whoever gets the most votes goes to the Nebraska Constitution.”
Even the existing 12-week ban, often described by conservatives as a moderate compromise, appears out of step with what Nebraskans want. ACLU of Nebraska Available by the end of 2022 Fifty-nine percent of respondents opposed lawmakers banning abortion, in both rural and urban areas and in every congressional district.
More than two years later, the Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade, Abortion rights ballot measures have succeeded in seven states where they have appeared, including red and purple states like Kentucky, Ohio, Kansas, Michigan and Montana. This year, high-profile abortion rights measures are on the ballot in states like Florida, Arizona and Missouri. Nebraska’s competition has received less attention than these other states.
“They know public opinion is on our side so they’re doing everything they can to muddy the waters,” said Allie Berry, manager of the Protect Our Rights campaign, which is leading Nebraska’s ballot measure to expand abortion rights. Although Berry feels cautiously optimistic, he realizes that his opponents are trying to trip up voters. “If they succeed here,” Berry predicts, “they’ll try it in every other state.”
