CV NEWS FEED // Nebraska’s pro-life ballot measure is important for the national pro-life movement in the U.S., a fellow from the Ethics and Public Policy Center argued in a recent op-ed.
Dr. Jennifer Bryson explained in a Crisis Magazine op-ed that, because of the national reach of media, it is important for pro-lifers across the country to understand the significance of pro-life legislation in states besides their own.
“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,” Bryson argued. “We must continue supporting and learning from each other across state lines.”
Nebraska is voting on amendments to the State Constitution in the November ballot, with two different options that would change legislation on abortion.
According to Bryson’s op-ed, the first option is the “Protect Women and Children Constitutional Amendment,” which states that, “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 alternative amendment, “Protect the Right to Abortion Constitutional Amendment,” would give almost unlimited access to abortion at any stage of the pregnancy.
The pro-abortion amendment reads:
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 subdivision 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.
Bryson cited the Nebraska Catholic Conference’s (NCC) explanation of the pitfalls of the “Right to Abortion” amendment. The Conference summarized the amendment as dangerous, deceptive, and demeaning. The amendment, the NCC explains, “gives power to abortion practitioners, who may not even be licensed doctors, to decide whether a baby is ‘viable,’” thus giving access to late-term abortion.
Bryson explained that there was a third initiative banning all abortions from conception until birth, which failed to receive enough signatures. She elaborated that even though the initiative failed, “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.”
“The perpetual all-or-nothing versus incrementalism disagreement among pro-lifers looks likely to result in… a vote of no or abstention on the Protect Women and Children Constitutional Amendment,” which would result in the pro-choice amendment winning and giving nearly unlimited access to abortion in Nebraska, according to Bryson.
Because of the two competing initiatives, Bryson explained, it is not merely a matter of one of the initiatives receiving 51% of votes, “rather, it is a matter of getting the most votes.” Thus, “persuading and mobilizing pro-life voters to vote Yes on the pro-life Amendment is a pressing task between now and November.”
Bryson concluded, “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.”
