July 10, 2024
One of the states facing down a November abortion ballot initiative has seen a flurry of signature withdrawal requests, according to recent news from the Nebraska Examiner. “At least 348 people had signed state affidavits claiming they mistakenly signed a petition, according to unofficial numbers obtained by the Examiner late last week. More than 300 asked to pull signatures from the Protect Women and Children petition, which is backed by abortion opponents and would limit how long into a pregnancy abortion is legal.
Those 304 would be the most filed against a single ballot initiative with the Secretary of State’s Office. The previous high was set in 2023, when nearly 200 were filed against an effort to repeal a tax credit for funding private school scholarships.”
This is naturally great news, as Students for Life Action (SFLAction) has been campaigning hard against these pro-abortion ballot initiatives across the country, where 10 states currently face abortion on the ballot this fall.
READ: Abortion IS on the Ballot: The Top Pro-Life Ballot Initiatives for 2024
Beyond local grassroots advocacy and education programs for voters in Nebraska, SFLAction has aggressively pushed other tools that voters can use to fight back against the intentionally confusing ballot and signature campaigns favored by the pro-abortion lobby. This has included a Ballot Referendum Kit, with resources and materials to educate voters, friends, and neighbors, and a website for those who mistakenly signed up for the pro-abortion lobby: AbortionBallot.org. The website lays out specifics on how each state handles signature withdrawal requests.
In Nebraska specifically, local abortion supporters and Nebraska legislators are attempting to enshrine abortion rights into the Nebraska Bill of Rights. Currently, the state restricts abortion after the first 12 weeks (around three months of pregnancy), largely in part to a contentious battle with State Sen. Merv Riepe who joined pro-abortion Democrats to stop Nebraska’s Heartbeat Abortion Prevention Act and single-handedly blocked this pro-life legislation from passing. This happened despite his pledge during the election to support Life at Conception legislation.
If the pro-abortion ballot question is voted into law, it “would establish the right to an abortion. The measure would provide for the state to regulate abortion after fetal viability, except where medically indicated to protect the life, physical health, or mental health of the pregnant individual.”
For the proposals to pass and be signed into law, “not only do more people have to vote for the measure than against, but also at least 35% of voters casting ballots must vote for the measure” according to the State Constitution.
SFLAction discussed that despite ballot referendums being the preferred tactic of the abortion industrial complex and their corporate funders, this strategy could massively backfire for multiple reasons – not least of which being that the Youth Vote doesn’t like the extreme positions that the ballot initiatives take.
TO LEARN WHY, READ: The Democrats Are Gambling Everything on Abortion Ballot Initiatives – That Could Backfire
