Nebraska pro-lifers challenge abortion ballot measure

Pro-life advocates in Nebraska on Thursday filed a brief with the state’s supreme court alleging a pro-abortion ballot measure violates state law, the Thomas More Society said. The ballot measure proposes amending the Nebraska Constitution to prevent the state from protecting unborn babies from abortion until the point of fetal viability, or when the life and health of the mother is at stake. But to legally appear on voters’ ballots in November, the measure must address only a single subject. And pro-life advocates allege that it addresses multiple subjects.

The pro-life advocates asked the Nebraska Supreme Court to hear their challenge to the law, and last week the court agreed to do so. Oral arguments are scheduled for Sept. 9. Both sides will receive only 15 minutes to state their case for why the ballot measure either satisfies or violates the criteria laid out in Nebraska state law.

How does it address multiple subjects? The proposed amendment seeks to prevent the state from protecting unborn babies before they can survive outside the womb. But then it goes on to propose giving women the legal right to abort their babies after the point of fetal viability if it is determined that the pregnancy threatens their life or health. The Thomas More Society’s attorneys argue that the term “health” is poorly defined, and this provision could conceivably be used to permit abortion even up until birth. That’s an entirely different subject from the law’s initial proposal, which was to prevent the government from protecting babies before fetal viability, Thomas More Society attorneys argue.

Furthermore, the petition seeks to roll back numerous popularly supported laws regulating abortion, the pro-life advocates argued. The language of the proposed amendment says women should be able to abort their unborn babies before the point of fetal viability “without interference” from the state. That language would effectively repeal more than 50 years of laws the state has passed and have wide-reaching effects on many other fields of medicine, the Thomas More Society argued.

What do supporters of the ballot measure have to say? Protect Our Rights, the lobbying group behind the ballot measure, characterizes itself as a coalition of grassroots organizations, medical professionals, individuals and others who, in the organization’s words, put patient health and safety above political games. It says the ballot measure is needed to give Nebraska residents the power to control their own bodies, health and future.

WORLD reached out to the organization on Friday to see if it had any response to the brief. This story will be updated to reflect any response received.

Dig deeper: Read my report about how dueling pro-abortion and pro-life ballot measures will be appearing on Nebraska’s November ballots.