Sen. Pete Ricketts donates $500K to Nebraska's 12-week abortion ban ballot campaign

Source: Omaha World Herald-Lincoln Journal Star

ANDREW WEGLEY Lincoln Journal Star Apr 17, 2024 Updated 54 mins ago

Pete Ricketts, Nebraska’s junior U.S. senator and former governor who in 2022 voiced support for a total abortion ban in the state, including in cases of rape and incest, is now backing an effort to enshrine a 12-week abortion ban in the state’s constitution.

Ricketts last month donated $500,000 to the Protect Women and Children committee, which launched a ballot initiative in March aimed at amending the state’s constitution to bar most abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy with exceptions for rape, incest and medical emergencies — a proposal that mirrors the abortion parameters that already exist in state law.

His donation accounted for 100% of the committee’s cash balance as of March 26, when the filing period for the group’s initial campaign finance disclosure form ended.

The effort is meant to rival a ballot initiative backed by abortion rights advocates that would amend Nebraska’s constitution to protect legal abortion care until “fetal viability,” generally considered to be around 23 or 24 weeks gestational age.




Sen. Pete Ricketts speaks at an event at the Embassy Suites in La Vista in 2022. Ricketts, who once voiced support for a total abortion ban without exceptions, donated $500,000 last month to a ballot initiative campaign aimed at enshrining Nebraska’s 12-week abortion ban in the state’s constitution.
CHRIS MACHIAN, THE WORLD-HERALD

Read more: https://omaha.com/news/state-regional/government-politics/ricketts-donate-nebraska-12-week-abortion-ban/article_23cd10ba-b08a-51fe-ba66-5b522bcf7cef.html