Many agree that getting abortion rights on the ballot is good for protecting our bodies and our rights. Most also agree that it’s a great issue for Democrats.
This diary isn’t especially original, but as we say (often) in the GNR, repetition is good! Besides, this will be updated as new information comes in. And we’ll try to get out explicit information about where to sign.
As we’re waiting for election season to get going, this is what you can do. If you live in the state being featured, make sure you sign. If you don’t, but know people in the state being featured, try to get them to sign.
This diary is dedicated to Nebraska, which has a deadline of July, 2024 to get it on the ballot. (I will contact them to ask exactly when in July.)
The group Protect Our Rights has a website where you can sign up to volunteer to collect signatures, or, equally as important, be notified when there is a petition that you can sign nearby.
Here’s what they say on their “About Us” page:
The Protect Our Rights Campaign is a ballot initiative to protect abortion rights in the Nebraska State Constitution.
Protect Our Rights is a coalition of Nebraskans and local reproductive health, rights, and justice organizations working to return the right to make important decisions around abortion care to patients and their health care providers, not the government.
This ballot committee is backed by a growing number of grassroots organizations, medical professionals, individuals, and trusted institutions representing Nebraskans from all across the state. We are coming together to put patient health and safety above political games and give Nebraskans the power to control their own bodies, health, and future.
Most Nebraskans support safe, legal abortion and every one of you is crucial to protecting our rights.
12 states where the fate of abortion rights could be on the ballot in 2024 Amy B Wang, Leigh Ann Caldwell, Washington Post, published Dec 20, 2023 (I tried to make this a gift article).
What they say about Nebraska
Current law: Nebraska has been one of the more aggressive states attempting to roll back abortion rights, even when Roe was in place. After Roe fell, the Nebraska legislature passed a 12-week abortion ban with no exceptions for the life and health of the mother earlier this year after falling one vote short of a six-week ban.
The initiative: The citizen-driven initiative Protect Our Rights is proposing a constitutional amendment to protect a right to abortion until “fetal viability.”
State of play: Since the initiative was filed with the state, advocates have begun collecting the roughly 128,000 signatures of registered voters who hail from 38 counties as required by July.
The politics: Nebraska is a deep-red state, voting for Donald Trump by 29 percentage points in 2020. Voters are increasingly using ballot initiatives in Nebraska to advance objectives the legislature refuses to take up. While incumbent Sen. Deb Fischer (R) is expected to easily win reelection, if the abortion initiative makes the ballot, it could impact the race of Rep. Don Bacon, who is one of the 17 Republican House members who represent a Biden-won district.
Do you have more to add? Please do so in the comments and I will update the diary.
Thanks! Let’s make a difference in 2024!
🐦 I do a lot of other writing. A recent offering: the Crow Nickels (chronicles), a trilogy about crows who want to save birdkind from extinction: Hunters of the Feather is the first. Other stories,based on Jane Austen novels — such as The Meryton Murders — and others, based on history and Greek mythology, such as Jocasta:The Mother-Wife of Oedipus, can be found here. All titles are available as paperbacks, as regular Kindle, and through Kindle Unlimited, although with KU I only get paid if you turn the pages