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LINCOLN — A ballot initiative that would have asked Nebraska voters to add a total ban on abortions to the state’s constitution will not be on the November ballot after failing to submit signatures needed.
The state currently bans most abortions after the first trimester, but includes exceptions for the life of the mother, as well as rape and incest.
Nebraska Secretary of State Bob Evnen confirmed last week that the group – Choose Life Now – did not submit the required number of signatures to be on the ballot before his office closed on Thursday, which was the deadline.
The language of the proposed ballot initiative said “a preborn child is a person at every stage of development, beginning at fertilization. Wherever under Nebraska law the term ‘person’ is used or implied, it shall include such a child.”
The initiative also proposed to cross out voter-adopted constitutional language limiting legal abortions to the first trimester.
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In 2024, Nebraska voters were faced with a unique choice of deciding between opposing abortion-related proposals. Nebraska joined two other states, Florida and South Dakota, in rejecting ballot initiatives seeking to expand abortion rights after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, a ruling that governed reproductive rights for nearly half a century.
Choose Life Now released a lengthy press release thanking all their circulators and people who signed their petition.
“Hundreds of volunteer circulators from every Christian denomination, in every county, obtained tens of thousands of petition signatures across Nebraska, but not enough to meet the minimum requirement of ten percent of registered Nebraska voters to qualify for [the] general election ballot in November,” part of the statement reads.
Choose Life Now added that it needed more circulators. This is the second time the group tried and failed to get on the ballot.
In order to get a proposed constitutional amendment on the ballot in Nebraska, a group must gather signatures from at least 10% of Nebraska voters. The signatures must include 5% of registered voters in at least 38 of the state’s 93 counties.
During its kick-off event last year, organizers called the ballot initiative a “spiritual battle” to stop the “culture of death” that comes with abortions.
Executive Director of Planned Parenthood North Central States Andi Curry Grubb told Omaha NBC affiliate WOWT last year that Choose Life Now’s renewed effort would fail because it did not reflect the values or will of Nebraskans.
Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen has previously said he would prefer a total abortion ban. The national GOP has softened its stance on abortion since the Dobbs decision, as bans became unpopular with the public.
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- 12:56 pmEditor note: The story was updated to include statements from Choose Life Now
