Why the 2024 Nebraska Pro-Life Ballot Initiative Matters for the Whole Country

This November voters in Nebraska will be in the unprecedented position of being able to choose between a pro-life and a pro-abortion constitutional amendment.

By: Jennifer Bryson, originally published July 31, 2024, CrisisMagazine.com/Opinion

There is good news for the pro-life movement to report from Nebraska: with little lead time and even less money, an alliance of pro-lifers succeeded in gathering enough signatures from enough different counties to put a pro-life amendment to the State Constitution on the November ballot here. If the “Protect Women and Children Constitutional Amendment” passes, Nebraska would be the first state in the union to have restrictions on abortion in the State Constitution.

However, not all the news from the Cornhusker State is good: In addition to the pro-life measure, here is also a pro-abortion measure on the ballot, making it the first time since the Dobbs decision that voters will have a choice between the two options on the same ballot.

The Protect Women and Children initiative would amend the Nebraska State Constitution to add: 

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 pro-abortion initiative on the same ballot is the “Protect the Right to Abortion Constitutional Amendment.” (However, in marketing materials, the advocates mask the centrality of abortion with the vague, vanilla label “Protect Our Rights.”) If passed, it would amend the Nebraska State Constitution to add: 

All persons shall have the 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’ sustained survival outside the uterus without the application of extraordinary medical measures.

An informational flyer provided by the Nebraska Catholic Conference (NCC) explains the squirrelly language in this ballot initiative, pointing out that it “gives power to abortion practitioners, who may not even be licensed doctors, to decide whether a baby is ‘viable,’” and it “creates a right to late pregnancy abortion.” Overall, the NCC assesses that the pro-abortion measure is “dangerous,” “deceptive,” and “demeaning.” 

The pro-life Protect Women and Children in Nebraska faces a daunting task to become law. But opposition to the measure doesn’t just come from pro-abortion forces; it also faces opposition from pro-lifers as well. The perpetual all-or-nothing versus incrementalism disagreement among pro-lifers looks likely to result in advocates of all-or-nothing calling for a vote of no or abstention on the Protect Women and Children Constitutional Amendment.

Alongside the current pro-abortion and pro-life initiatives that will be on the Nebraska ballot this November, a third initiative was proposed by a group of pro-lifers to oppose the pro-life measure that succeeded. This third proposed initiative sought to grant personhood for the preborn in the Nebraska State Constitution, thus leading to abortion being illegal from conception. However, this third initiative for a comprehensive ban did not get enough signatures to get on the ballot.

This third initiative, despite its failure, nevertheless remains significant for the November ballot because it signals the willingness of some pro-lifers to withhold a Yes vote to put a ban on abortion after twelve weeks into the Nebraska State Constitution. If enough pro-lifers refuse to vote Yes on the pro-life initiative, it will increase the chance that the pro-abortion initiative for adding a so-called “right” to abortion to the Nebraska State Constitution could pass. In the event both the pro-life and the pro-abortion initiatives pass, the one receiving the largest number of votes would prevail.

Because of the unusual situation of having two competing initiatives on the same ballot, success is not merely a matter of getting to 51 percent; rather, it is a matter of getting the most votes. And in Nebraska, repealing a section of the State Constitution can be more difficult than the initial act to amend the Constitution; it would be very hard to undo. 

This means that persuading and mobilizing pro-life voters to vote Yes on the pro-life Amendment is a pressing task between now and November.

A post-Dobbs attitude of “If it is not my state, it is not my problem,” would be one of the worst possible outcomes we could have from the return of the abortion question to the states. We must continue supporting and learning from each other across state lines.

To be sure, the decision about these two ballot initiatives rests with us Nebraskans. But at the same time, recognizing that media today zoom online across geographic boundaries, constructive attention to the Nebraska pro-life initiative from outside the state could help in multiple ways.

How can you help the Nebraska 2024 pro-life initiative?

1. Learn: Get informed about the two initiatives. Gather ideas for your own state about what to do next and share what you learn with friends and acquaintances, not least of all those in Nebraska. 

2. Get the word out: Share information about this initiative with family, friends, and others in conversation and on social media. 

3. Explain: What reasons can you provide for Nebraskans to vote Yes on the Protect Women and Children Constitutional Amendment and No on the pro-abortion measure? Via all media platforms, share thoughtful, informed, persuasive arguments. If you write for online journals, have a podcast, or produce videos, you can help bring attention to the Nebraska pro-life initiative and foster a rich conversation about it. 

4. Pray. Please be with us in prayer.

At a moment in which we are watching national-level Republican Party commitment to protect life erode, it is more important than ever to seize the opportunities we have, step-by-step, to protect life where and to the extent we can—starting in the states. The Nebraska ballot in November offers such an opportunity, if we seize it.

Jennifer S. Bryson, Ph.D., is a Fellow in the Catholic Women’s Forum at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C.