Nebraskans can vote on competing abortion ballot measures, top court rules

By Brendan Pierson

(Reuters) - Competing proposals to amend Nebraska's constitution, one to guarantee abortion rights and the other to restrict them, can appear on ballots in November's election, the state's highest court ruled on Friday.

One proposed amendment, sponsored by a coalition of pro-abortion rights organizations including a Planned Parenthood affiliate, would establish a "fundamental right" to abortion up to fetal viability, and to protect the mother's life or health after that.

The opposing measure, sponsored by a group of anti-abortion doctors, would prohibit abortion after the first trimester, with exceptions for medical emergencies, rape or incest. That is similar to Nebraska's existing abortion law.

The pro-abortion rights amendment was challenged by a doctor and by the founder of a facility that houses women facing unplanned pregnancies. The opposing amendment was challenged by a group of practicing and retired doctors.

Both challenges argued that the proposed amendments improperly addressed multiple subjects, since they involved abortion rights under various circumstances, and risked confusing voters. But the Nebraska Supreme Court ruled that both addressed a single subject and were clear.

"Unregulated late-term abortions are what Nebraskans will get if the abortion expansion ballot initiative passes," Matt Heffron of the Thomas More Society, a lawyer for the anti-abortion challengers, said in a statement. "We are deeply concerned that the Nebraska Supreme Court has allowed this intentionally deceptive initiative to go before Nebraskans for a confusing vote."

Lawyers for the challengers to the anti-abortion measure and the office of Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Nebraska is one of nine states expected to vote on abortion rights in November, as abortion rights advocates seek to undo new abortion bans and restrictions passed by Republican-controlled states in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's 2022 ruling eliminating the long-standing nationwide right to abortion. Policy regarding abortion and women's reproductive rights in general is a key issue in this year's presidential election.

(Reporting by Brendan Pierson in New York; editing by Jonathan Oatis)