Several abortion initiatives were on state ballots for the Nov. 5 election, and by a narrow margin, voters in two Midwest states, Nebraska and South Dakota, chose the pro-life options.
The Nebraska ballot had two competing questions.
Voters defeated a plan to enshrine the right to kill an unborn baby into the state constitution. The proposal, Nebraska Initiative 439, was opposed by 51 percent of voters, while 49 percent supported it. The initiative called for an amendment to the Nebraska Constitution giving “all persons,” not just women, “a fundamental right to abortion until fetal viability, or when needed to protect the life or health of the pregnant patient, without interference from the state or its political subdivisions.”
The language of the measure did grammar gymnastics to avoid using the words “women” or “mother,” or “baby.”
The amendment defined “fetal viability” as the point in pregnancy when a doctor says the child could survive “outside the uterus without the application of extraordinary medical measures.”
While that was struck down, a life-affirming measure passed with 55 percent of the vote. Nebraska Initiative 434, the Prohibit Abortions After the First Trimester Amendment, amends the state constitution to say, “unborn children shall be protected from abortion in the second and third trimesters” except in cases of medical emergencies or pregnancies resulting from sexual assault or incest.
“Thanks to leadership from Sen. Pete Ricketts, Gov. Jim Pillen and GOP leaders, abortion industry lies were challenged and the radical implications of Initiative 439 were exposed while