Nebraska sees two conflicting ballot initiatives move forward
State supreme court rules that neither pro-choice or antiabortion amendment violated single subject rule.
The Nebraska State Supreme Court ruled that two competing abortion ballot initiatives–one protecting and one limiting–could proceed after challenges to disqualify the pro-choice one came from a resident and a doctor.
The proposed pro-choice amendment states that all people 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 means 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’s sustained survival outside the uterus without the application of extraordinary medical measures.
One of the relators–or someone who brings a complaint on someone else’s behalf–in the lawsuit was Dr. Catherine Brooks, a neonatologist in Lincoln. She challenged the law under the belief that it violated the single subject requirement, which means that a proposed law has multiple aspects to vote on instead of one issue. Her lawyers also said the terms used in the ballot initiative were too vague and would mislead voters.
The other relator, an antiabortion resident, Carolyn LaGreca, is a registered voter and resident of Douglas County. Her lawyers argued that the amendment would give virtually an unlimited right to abortion after viability, according to the ruling.
The court ruled against both by saying the amendment didn’t violate the single-subject rule.
“The relators dissect the two sentences of the Initiative and examine the words of those sentences to argue that the Initiative contains multiple separate subjects,” the decision read. “However, we read all parts of the Initiative as setting parameters of the constitutional right that the Initiative seeks to create or as defining terms that describe the nature and extent of the right.”
In a separate lawsuit, 29 current or retired physicians challenged the “Protect Women and Children” initiative that seeks to enshrine the 12-week abortion ban in the state constitution. The competing ballot initiative says, “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.”
The doctors had argued that the initiatives should rise or fall together. Either both or neither should appear on the ballot. The state supreme court justices addressed that in their decision by saying they had effectively admitted that neither violated the single-subject rule.
Allie Berry, Campaign Manager of Protect Our Rights, responded to the state supreme court's decision. She called it a victory for all Nebraskans, who must understand what’s at stake.
“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,” Berry said. “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.”