Nebraska had two initiatives. Initiative 439 was pro-abortion and would have allowed late-term abortions while doing away with the state’s abortion restrictions.
The other Initiative was 434, something that gives constitutional protection to the unborn in the second and third trimesters while also permitting further legislative restrictions of abortion throughout pregnancy.
Fifty-one percent of Nebraskans voted against the pro-abortion Initiative 439. More than 55% of Nebraska voters opted for the pro-life Initiative 434.
Matt Heffron of Thomas More Society:
"As the last few remaining ballots are tallied, it is now clear that Nebraskans saw through the abortion industry's smokescreen. When faced with a choice between a radical abortion expansion initiative and a pro-life alternative, voters in the Cornhusker State opted to choose life at the ballot box.”
Abortion was on the ballot in 10 states and succeeded in seven.
Florida and South Dakota joined Nebraska in voting against it.
Confusion for a reason
In many instances pro-life groups accused the amendments of being written in an intentionally confusing manner. Nebraska’s certainly was, Hefron said.
“The pro-abortion constitutional amendment was an outrageously deceptive scheme from the start, and Big Abortion believed it could fool Nebraskans with vague and deceptive language. They were wrong. I am glad that we at Thomas More Society were able to take a leading role in the fight against Initiative 439,” he said.
Attorneys with Thomas More Society went to the Nebraska Supreme Court to challenge Initiative 439, the argument being that Initiative 439 "violated Nebraska's Single Subject Rule." While the Nebraska Supreme Court ruled the initiative could stay on the ballot, Thomas More Society is still pleased with the fact that "all levels of the press reported on the actual effect of the language of the initiative," thus allowing the public to see how deceptive the Initiative was in Nebraska.
