On Friday, the Nebraska Supreme Court decided that dueling initiatives to expand or restrict abortion rights will be included on the November ballot. This decision followed recent hearings in which three separate lawsuits aimed to prevent either or both of the abortion measures from appearing on the ballot, reported The Hill.
Voters in the Cornhusker State will decide on a ballot measure proposing to enshrine the right to abortion up to fetal viability in the state constitution. Conversely, another measure aims to cement the state’s existing 12-week abortion ban into law.
Organizers for both proposals collected over 200,000 signatures each, surpassing the 123,000 valid signatures required to qualify for the ballot, the Hill added. For the first time since the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 reversal of Roe v. Wade, Nebraska will feature competing abortion amendments on the same ballot.
Meanwhile, nine other states will also address abortion issues on their ballots this year, including Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, and South Dakota, where measures to protect access are also set to appear.
The latest development follows two initiatives, the Nebraska Medical Cannabis Patient Protection Initiative and the Nebraska Medical Cannabis Regulation Initiative, which have both surpassed the required 87,126 valid signatures to be considered for the November 2024 ballot.
The Nebraska Secretary of State’s office confirmed the 89,000 petitions have valid signatures and that officials are “nearing the end of the verification process by county election offices,” bringing them close to certification.
Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
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