A new petition seeking to recognize fertilized eggs, embryos and fetuses as people and grant them the same rights as those who have been born will begin circulating in Nebraska.
Choose Life Now, an anti-abortion organization, filed language with Nebraska Secretary of State Bob Evnen on May 2 seeking to recognize 鈥渢he personhood of unborn children鈥 in the state constitution.
鈥淎 preborn child at every stage of development is a person,鈥 the language of the proposed amendment reads. 鈥淲herever under Nebraska law the term 鈥榩erson鈥 is used or implied, it shall include a child.鈥
Evnen approved the submitted language on May 13. Choose Life Now is planning a kickoff event Tuesday evening in Omaha.
The effort to recognize fetal rights in the state constitution, a longtime goal of abortion opponents across the country, comes as two other petitions dealing with abortion rights are now in circulation in Nebraska following the U.S. Supreme Court鈥檚 reversal of Roe v. Wade in 2022.
The first, launched by Protect Our Rights with support from Planned Parenthood of Nebraska and the ACLU of Nebraska last November, seeks to enshrine the right to an abortion 鈥渦ntil fetal viability,鈥 typically considered around 23-24 weeks gestational age.
The second petition, sponsored by Protect Women and Children Committee with financial backing from Sen. Pete Ricketts and support from Nebraska Right to Life and the Nebraska Catholic Conference, would ban abortions in the second and third trimesters.
That effort, launched earlier this year, would put Nebraska鈥檚 existing 12-week abortion ban passed in 2023 in the state constitution.
Rose Kohl, a petition sponsor with Choose Life Now from Omaha, said the two petitions now in circulation, while working toward different goals, continue to allow most abortions to continue in Nebraska.
She said there has also been confusion as to which petition does what and that Choose Life Now's effort offers a clearer alternative.
鈥淭his is a personhood amendment for small children who have not been born yet,鈥 Kohl said in a phone interview. 鈥淭his will give them equal rights, including the right to life.鈥
Other sponsors of the petition that would define life as starting at conception include Jeanne Griesen of Lincoln; Larry Wewel of O鈥橬eill; and Robert Smith of Omaha.
According to Choose Life Now鈥檚 website, if enacted by voters, the constitutional amendment would prohibit abortion in all cases in Nebraska, including in instances of rape or incest, or during medical emergencies to save the life of the mother.
鈥淲e support a severe criminal penalty for the rapist, not for the death of the innocent child,鈥 Choose Life Now鈥檚 website states, adding medical exemptions are 鈥渢oo often an excuse to commit abortion鈥 for non-life-threatening reasons.
鈥淎ll persons have a right to life,鈥 Kohl said. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 need to make an exception to protect the mother鈥檚 life because protection of the mother鈥檚 life is the rule.鈥
Fetal personhood laws are nothing new and have been put on the books in most states, often to enhance penalties in homicide or assault cases where the victim was pregnant.
Since the fall of Roe, which prohibited states from enacting fetal personhood laws, the effort to grant embryos and fetuses the same rights as others has moved from the fringe more into the mainstream.
Bills to grant the same rights to fertilized embryos as other individuals were introduced in a dozen states this year, according to the Center for Reproductive Rights at the Guttmacher Institute, including in Colorado, Iowa and Kansas.
Three states have enacted fetal personhood laws: Missouri, Georgia and Alabama. In Alabama, the state supreme court, in a controversial ruling earlier this year, ruled that frozen embryos created through in vitro fertilization should be considered children.
After providers in Alabama stopped IVF services, fearing criminal repercussions should an embryo be discarded or destroyed, state lawmakers later passed a law granting them immunity.
Personhood laws also have been used to allow parents to seek child support for fetuses or to argue that minor victims of abuse were actually nine months older than their birth date in order to reduce the potential criminal liability.
Kohl said many of the questions about how fetal personhood applies will be up to the Legislature if Nebraska voters put it on the ballot and amend the state constitution.
She believes Nebraska, which opposed the expansion of slavery and became the first state in the U.S. to recognize the rights of Natives, will choose to extend those rights to the unborn.
鈥淲e鈥檒l be the first to recognize the rights of babies as human beings,鈥 she said.
But qualifying for the ballot will be a steep task for Choose Life Now, particularly as the "grassroots" signature-gathering effort kicks off about six weeks before the state-imposed deadline.
The group has not filed a financial report with the Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission, but previous ballot initiatives have relied on more than $1 million in order to obtain the signatures needed to go on the ballot.
Because the group is seeking to amend the state constitution, circulators will need to obtain valid signatures of 10% of registered voters 鈥 roughly 123,000 Nebraskans 鈥 before July 3.
That鈥檚 double the 5% of registered voters needed for referendum petitions, and a higher threshold than the 7% required to enact new legislation through a petition.
In addition to the raw vote total, Choose Life Now will need to obtain signatures from 5% of voters in 38 of Nebraska鈥檚 93 counties through what Kohl described as a campaign manned by volunteers.
鈥淥ur plan is to get the word out, and we believe the cause is so just that people, of their own accord, will volunteer to rush out there and get signatures," she said.
Choose Life Now, an anti-abortion organization, plans a petition drive to to recognize fertilized eggs, embryos and fetuses as people and grant them the same rights as those who have been born.