LINCOLN — Getting to the ballot box has been a long and bumpy road for Nebraska’s abortion initiatives.
This summer three separate petitions were competing for signatures, two have qualified and this week one of the remaining petitions began facing legal challenges.
"My first reaction was I was not particularly surprised. We anticipated something like this," said Andi Curry Grubb with Protect Our Rights.
It seems that the first legal challenges to Protect our Rights were short lived endeavors.
The first challenge came on Monday when Carolyn LaGreca, a Douglas County woman funded by the conservative Thomas More Society filed suit but the Supreme Court shot that down saying it was “Not supported by an affidavit or positively verified application.
Then came a second lawsuit filed on Wednesday, just hours after the first was declined by the court, by Dr. Catherine Brooks, a Neonatologist from Lincoln.
But just like the first lawsuit the courts found it was not supported by an affidavit.
"I think this is a distraction. I think this is doing everything they can to take away from the strength of the work that we have been doing with Protect our Rights. The response we have gotten from across the state has been incredibly strong. They are doing whatever they can to prevent people from having the opportunity to vote on this in November," said Curry Grubb.
Supporters of that lawsuit have re-filed with the supreme court.
There was plenty of confusion about what petition did what during the signature gathering stage, mostly around the opposed Protect Women and Children initiative, and hundreds submitted affidavits to have their names removed from that petition.
Protect our Rights doesn’t want the same confusion in November and will focus their messaging on letting voters know their petition is the only one protecting reproductive rights
"we were able to get all of our signatures without any confusion or trickery. We are very proud of the work we have done. We will continue, we know when we educate people and really make sure they understand the difference between the two that people overwhelmingly support our petition," said Curry Grubb.
