An abortion rights organization in Nebraska is taking the initial steps to bring the issue to the ballot in 2024. Protect Our Rights, a political campaign committee, has filed paperwork in support of a ballot initiative that aims to amend the state constitution and protect the right to an abortion. While the language for the measure has not been proposed yet, the group must receive approval from the Secretary of State before collecting signatures.
Gaining a place for a proposed constitutional amendment on the ballot requires valid signatures from 10 percent of the state’s registered voters, which is currently slightly less than 123,000. Additionally, signatures must be collected from 5 percent of registered voters in 38 of Nebraska’s 93 counties.
This move comes in response to a recently passed 12-week abortion ban in Nebraska, which is set to go into effect on October 1st. The law includes exceptions for pregnancies resulting from rape and incest, as well as to save the life of the mother. Planned Parenthood and the ACLU have sued, and despite a state judge upholding the law, the groups have announced an appeal.
Andi Curry Grubb, one of the organizers of the Protect our Rights Coalition, is the executive director for Nebraska of Planned Parenthood North Central States and the executive director of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Nebraska. In a statement, Grubb expressed the group’s commitment to exploring all possible options to protect their rights and restore the rights that Nebraskans lost due to the abortion ban passed earlier in the year.
State ballot measures have become a new battleground for abortion access, especially in light of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. This strategy has proven successful for abortion rights advocates, as every state that included abortion on the ballot in 2022 voted in favor of protecting access to the procedure.
Nebraska Right to Life, an anti-abortion group, anticipates the push for a ballot measure by abortion rights activists. They believe that a ballot initiative could override current laws that have been supported by a majority of Nebraskans, such as parental consent, ending taxpayer funding of abortion, banning abortion after a certain stage, and eliminating dismemberment abortions. However, they express confidence that once Nebraskans understand the ramifications of this effort, they will reject it.
Overall, abortion rights advocates in Nebraska are utilizing the ballot initiative approach to fight for their cause, following in the footsteps of other states where this strategy has been successful. The Protect Our Rights group reaffirms that these decisions about personal healthcare should be treated with compassion, privacy, and without interference from the government or politics.
Note: The HTML tags in the original content have been removed for readability.
Denial of responsibility! VigourTimes is an automatic aggregator of Global media. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, and all materials to their authors. For any complaint, please reach us at – [email protected]. We will take necessary action within 24 hours.
