Right now, it feels like activity on ballot measures is both moving at warp speed and also crawling along at the pace of a snail. In a lot of ways, we have been in a holding pattern on “next steps” because we don’t have ballot numbers for any of the measures. In other ways, each day—and even each hour—seems to provide a shifting landscape on what to expect this November.
If you haven’t been living in this chaos, consider yourself blessed. And let me communicate what you “need to know” about the abortion-related ballot initiatives and the school choice repeal ballot referendum.
Abortion-Related Ballot Initiatives Signatures Verified
The Nebraska Secretary of State has concluded that both abortion-related ballot measures collected the necessary signatures to qualify for the ballot.
The unsafe and extreme pro-abortion measure hit their numbers, and so did the pro-life measure to help protect Nebraska’s current health and safety laws against abortion.
But, gathering the signatures is only one (major) part of the equation.
Single-Subject Rule Challenges
To qualify for the ballot, an initiative must also meet other legal criteria, such as contain only a “single subject” within the contents of the ballot measure.
The purpose of the single subject rule is to ensure that ballot measure sponsors do not “logroll” a bunch of different ideas into one ballot measure. Contents within a ballot measure must be “logically related” to each other. If not, the ballot measure risks being excluded from the ballot as containing too many subjects.
Both abortion-related ballot measures are facing single-subject challenges. Working against the pro-abortion measure, four different sets of people have filed challenges. These folks are around 30 medical professionals (led by Dr. Katie Brooks, a Lincoln neonatologist), a former abortion clinic employee (Kristen New), a pregnancy help organization leader (Carolyn LaGreca), and an aspiring state senator (Tanya Storer).
In different but unified ways, they are all making the claim that the pro-abortion proposal contains several different subjects. They are arguing that the ballot measure is not just about creating a dangerous right to abortion, but it is also trying to define a bunch of different terms (such as viability, health, health care practitioner, etc.) and that these regulatory and definitional issues are a different subject from creating a right to abortion.
The arguments being made clearly demonstrate how unsafe the pro-abortion side’s language is, and how, if the measure is adopted, it will lead to an unregulated abortion industry that destroys the lives of babies well into the second and third trimester, which will also do great harm to women.
Against the pro-life measure, pro-abortionists are making similar claims. They are arguing that the pro-life measure contains multiple subject matters and should be kept off the ballot.
By the time you read this column in the paper, lawyers for both sides will have submitted their legal briefs to the Nebraska Supreme Court and will be preparing for oral arguments on Monday, Sept. 9. The Nebraska Supreme Court will need to issue a ruling on both challenges by Friday, Sept. 13, which is the date that Nebraska Secretary of State Bob Evnen must finalize the ballot for counties to prepare their distribution.
School Choice Repeal Ballot Measure
The teachers union’s attempt to steal school choice out of the hands of low-income children has also met the signature verification requirement. It is unclear, however, what kind of legal challenges will ensue to keep or strike the ballot measure. Keep an eye on the news for more developments.
What To Do Now?
It’s important for Catholics to continue educating anybody and everybody they know about the abortion-related ballot efforts. Just assume that both measures will make the ballot for this election cycle. This is the safest bet.
We need Catholics educating people why the pro-abortion effort is unsafe, unregulated, and un-Nebraskan. It will be worse than Roe v. Wade, as I mentioned in my last column. It will lead to a culture of abortion that harms women and children, and we need to defeat it! But this will only happen if you are educated on the measure and are talking to people about it. This measure won’t be defeated by our inactivity.
Pray and fast as well, especially through the intercession of Our Lady of Guadalupe (patroness of the unborn) and St. Joan of Arc, that we can keep a culture of life in Nebraska! God bless your efforts!
