Pro-lifers clash over Nebraska abortion amendment

Nebraska is one of 10 states with abortion amendments slated for November ballots—and the only state with competing amendments on the issue. State and national pro-life groups have rallied around one of the measures as a pro-life alternative to the amendment pushed by abortion groups. But that amendment is receiving mixed responses from Christian voters in the state, exposing a divide in political strategy.

In March, leading national pro-life organization Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America (SBA) announced its support for Protect Women and Children Nebraska, the campaign behind a ballot measure that SBA said would “establish a constitutional protection for babies from second- and third-trimester abortions.”

The language, also supported by state pro-life groups including Nebraska Family Alliance and Nebraska Right to Life, 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.”

Meanwhile, SBA said that a different measure from pro-abortion groups including Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union would legalize abortion throughout pregnancy while erasing commonsense protections for women.

“They will be banning the Nebraska Legislature from having any ability to even deal with [the abortion] issue,” Nebraska Right to Life president Sandy Danek said of the Planned Parenthood-sponsored amendment. That amendment would establish “a fundamental right to abortion … without interference from the state.”

Danek said that the amendment she backs “does nothing to interfere with the legislative process,” leaving the door open for the state to pass more protections for unborn babies in the future. Current state law protects unborn babies after 12 weeks gestation.

Last month, Nebraska’s secretary of state certified the two amendments for the November ballot. The Nebraska Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to hear a case pro-lifers brought in an attempt to block the Planned Parenthood-backed measure. But, barring the success of that lawsuit, both amendments will appear before voters, and both amendments could receive the votes needed to pass. According to the state constitution, in that scenario, the one with the most votes will become law in any area of conflict between the two measures.

Concerns about the radical implications of the amendment backed by abortion businesses motivated Nathan Goshert—a pastor of a small congregation in Arapahoe, Neb.—to support the Protect Women and Children amendment. From the beginning, he said, he didn’t like that the amendment allowed abortions in the first trimester. Under a previous state law that only protects babies after 22 weeks gestation, about 90 percent of the state’s abortions in 2022 took place during that first trimester. But he said he feared abortions until birth would become state law if he didn’t support it. So he encouraged his congregation to sign petitions to put it on the ballot. He even visited an assisted living home and another local church to gather signatures.

Since then, Goshert has heard of other strategies to protect unborn babies in Nebraska. In August, he added his signature to a letter from an abortion abolitionist group in the state calling on Nebraska lawmakers to pass a law classifying abortion as murder. Now he’s praying that neither abortion amendment will pass. He said it seems like the pro-life groups behind the Protect Women and Children amendment are trying to “compromise with people that have a secular worldview.” The abolitionist groups, he said, have “a better approach.”

Jarrod Ridge is the founder of End Abortion Nebraska, the group sponsoring the letter Goshert and more than 50 other Nebraska pastors have signed. Ridge argues that the Protect Women and Children amendment would actually be a step backward for the state constitution, which currently acknowledges that “All persons … have certain inherent and inalienable rights.”

“What we’re putting into our constitution is the exact opposite of personhood,” Ridge said. “By excluding [first-trimester babies], we’re excluding them from protection.” He said Goshert is just one of several pastors who have expressed regret for supporting the Protect Women and Children amendment after hearing the arguments against it.

Instead of supporting Protect Women and Children, Ridge backed a third abortion-related amendment effort that did not get enough signatures for November’s ballot. Supported by the group Nebraskans Embracing Life, the amendment would have established the personhood of unborn babies under the state constitution by adding the sentence, “A preborn child at every stage of development is a person. Wherever under Nebraska law the term ‘person’ is used or implied, it shall include such a child.”

That amendment effort got a late start with signature collection ahead of the July 2024 deadline. Pro-abortion groups filed their amendment in November 2023, followed by the Protect Women and Children supporters in March. Supporters of the personhood amendment didn’t file until May and failed to gather the required number of signatures by the deadline. Rose Kohl, spokesperson for the amendment effort, said the failure came down to a lack of support from churches.

“If we had a robust response from the Church, six weeks would have been enough time to get the signatures. Honestly, three weeks would be enough,” Kohl said. “There were a lot of churches that told us no.”

She called the concerns about the pro-abortion amendment passing “overblown,” saying Nebraska is “very conservative” and “loves life.” But she believes many churches feared that outcome and supported the Protect Women and Children amendment instead as a measure they thought has a greater chance of beating the amendment from the pro-abortion groups.

Retired Navy officer Robert Smith, who initiated the effort to get the personhood amendment on the ballot, also said some churches would not let them collect signatures from congregants because of their previous commitment to the Protect Women and Children campaign.

“The personhood issue goes to the heart of why we say abortion is wrong,” said Smith. “It should have united the pro-life community, and it did not.” Both Kohl and Smith said they oppose the Protect Women and Children amendment.

Danek said Nebraska Right to Life told pro-lifers it would be acceptable to support both the personhood and Protect Women and Children amendments. She said it was “unfortunate” that the groups supporting the personhood amendment would not say the same.

“All of us feel as though there is more work to be done,” said Danek, acknowledging the limitations of the Protect Women and Children amendment. “I understand it’s not where we want to be. We all admit that. But it’s a matter of an incremental approach.” To her and other groups backing the Protect Women and Children amendment, protecting unborn life after the first trimester is “common sense,” given that it’s consistent with current state law protecting unborn babies after 12 weeks. Anything stronger, she said, would require an increase in citizen support.

Many pro-life voters in the state agree with taking that incremental step—even if they take issue with elements of the amendment. Nathan Vieth, who lives in Lincoln, doesn’t like that Protect Women and Children allows for rape and incest exceptions. He would prefer language prohibiting abortion in all cases. But Vieth said he understands the strategy. “Is it good enough? No,” he said. “But if it could save one life then I will support it.”

Voter Darci Welling in Ashland said that, while she wishes the personhood amendment had received enough signatures, she plans to vote for the Protect Women and Children amendment to help prevent the pro-abortion amendment from receiving a majority. “Sometimes you have to pick the lesser of the two evils,” she said.

Regardless of the outcome in November, the abortion issue could come before Nebraska voters again in a future year. Kohl and Smith said they intend to file for another personhood amendment whether or not one of this year’s amendments makes it into the constitution. Kohl said they plan to refile after Election Day and hope to begin gathering signatures by December. That will give them more than a year to gather signatures.

“My experience in Nebraska is that the grassroots [people] in our churches are pro-life,” said Smith. “And, if given the opportunity to sign a petition to grant personhood to unborn children, they will do it.”