Nebraska ballot will include competing measures to expand or limit abortion rights, top court rules

The Nebraska Supreme Court has ruled that competing measures that would expand or limit abortion rights can appear on the November ballot. The high court’s ruling Friday came days after it heard arguments in three lawsuits that sought to keep one or both of the state’s competing abortion initiatives off the November ballot. Organizers for both measures turned in well over the 123,000 signatures needed to get the issue on the November ballot. One initiative would enshrine in the state constitution the right to have an abortion until viability, or later to protect the health of the pregnant woman. The other would write into the constitution Nebraska’s current 12-week abortion ban, which includes exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the pregnant woman.