Nebraska Voters Misled in Abortion Petition Signatures

A recent incident in Omaha, Nebraska has raised concerns about the tactics used to gather signatures for abortion-related petitions.

Tea Rohrberg, a resident of Omaha, was approached by a man outside the county's treasurer's office and asked to sign a “pro-choice petition.” Believing in the right to abortion access, she readily signed the petition. However, she later discovered that she had actually signed a petition being circulated by Protect Women and Children, which aims to codify Nebraska's new 12-week abortion ban in the state constitution. Feeling misled, Rohrberg sought to remove her name from the petition and filed a notarized affidavit with Protect Our Rights, an organization seeking to enshrine abortion rights in the Nebraska Constitution.

Public Reaction

Rohrberg is not alone in her experience; the Nebraska Secretary of State's office received 91 affidavits from voters seeking to have their names removed from an abortion petition. The majority were from individuals seeking to retract their support for petitions seeking to ban abortions. Both sides involved have accused each other of using deceptive tactics to gather signatures.

National Context

Nebraska is one of at least seven states where initiatives related to abortion rights are proposed for the November ballot. This reflects the ongoing debate following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision two years ago to end a constitutional right to abortion, leading to various state-level responses.

Political Landscape in Nebraska

Following the Supreme Court's decision, Nebraska's Republican-led government sought to impose abortion restrictions, including a failed total abortion ban in 2022 and a proposed ban at around six weeks of pregnancy which also failed. Eventually, a 12-week ban with exceptions for rape, incest, and maternal life-saving situations was passed. However, abortion rights advocates have been emboldened by voter initiatives in other states and public opinion, as evidenced by the 2022 midterm elections where a majority of Nebraska voters expressed support for legal abortions in most cases.

Current Petition Efforts

Anti-abortion advocates in Nebraska have launched multiple petition efforts, including one seeking to ban abortion at all stages of pregnancy by recognizing embryos as people. Additionally, there is a petition to codify the 12-week abortion ban into the state constitution, which is being financially supported by Nebraska multimillionaires, including Republican U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts. The Nebraska Catholic Conference has also been actively lobbying for support for the 12-week ban petition, while acknowledging the unlikelihood of attaining public support for a total abortion ban without exceptions.