The battle over abortion in Nebraska was not just between pro-life advocates of Initiative 434 and pro-choice supporters of 439. A third group, calling themselves “abolitionists,” wanted an even stronger amendment titled “Choose Life Now,” which would grant legal personhood to the unborn and prohibit abortion entirely, with no exceptions for gestational age, rape, or incest.
The Choose Life Now amendment failed to gather the signatures necessary to appear on the ballot in 2024, and 434 went on to victory. But for abortion abolitionists, this was “Partiality Enshrined” in the state Constitution, so now they are gearing up to try again.
The New Abolitionist Movement
On Saturday, Nebraskans Embracing Life held a kickoff event for the ballot initiative at Converge Church in Omaha. A table sign read, “We are abolitionists, not pro-life,” and it captured their divergent views from other pro-life activists.
Seth Dillon of the Babylon Bee spoke at Assure’s Imagine Banquet in 2024, and he relayed a quote from Jeremy Boering of the Daily Wire to sum up the mainstream pro-life position:
“Were I POTUS — perish the thought — and a fifteen week federal ban landed on my desk, I would be overjoyed to sign it. Even happier, a twelve week ban. Six weeks, happier still. I would gladly take any win on the issue and rejoice at every life saved. Compromise is a good thing if it furthers your goals.”
For abortion abolitionists, however, any compromise on the life of the unborn is unacceptable. The group takes its name from the 19th century abolitionist movement against slavery in the United States, a group that helped give rise to the Republican Party.
“The Republican Party started with a desire to protect personhood,” said Dustin Linden, who spoke on behalf of the petition at the Sarpy GOP meeting in March. “So this is an opportunity to protect the personhood of an infant, and so I want to give this an opportunity.”
A Second Chance for Choose Life Now
The Choose Life Now constitutional amendment would remove the language added by 434 last year and replace it with the following: “A preborn child at every stage of development, is a person, beginning at fertilization. Wherever under Nebraska law the term ‘person’ is used or implied, it shall include such a child.”
“We recognize there can be no exceptions. No exception for gestational age,” said David Zebolsky, chairman of Nebraskans Embracing Life. “We can’t have a term where abortion becomes acceptable for a given age of a child. So there’s no threshold for heartbeat or pain or 10 weeks or 12 weeks or 15 or 20 or a third trimester.”
“Every age has its evil; therefore, every age needs its abolitionists. And abolition fights the evil of our age, which of course is child sacrifice right now,” said Jelaine Fondren, who has been involved in the abolitionist movement since 2012. “Abolition is sought immediately, so not through compromising, incremental steps, but by demanding equal justice and continuing to demand that until we make progress.”
Peng Xiao, a Chinese immigrant and a petition circulator, gave his own testimony on the ballot initiative. He spoke on his own conversion experience from a “completely liberal atheist,” which included a feeling of conviction for his home country’s history of abortion and its “one child” policy.
“The abortion, the killing, murder, truly can bring the death and curse to the whole country, to the whole ethnic group,” he said. “We have to remove this thing because this is the foundation.”
A Spiritual Mission
Pat Castle, the founder of LIFE Runners and a sponsor of Choose Life Now, was one of several speakers who described the amendment as a spiritual mission.
“Do you know how many people are wounded from the greatest evil imaginable — dismembering, starving, lethal injection, of a baby in a mother’s womb? Do you know how many wounded people there are?” Castle asked. “We have a healing mission, church. Choose Life Now is a proclamation of God’s word.”
The process will not be easy. The amendment will need at least 125,000 signatures before July of 2026, and the signatures must be collected from at least ten percent of registered voters in at least 38 of Nebraska’s 93 counties. In 2024, ballot initiatives 434 and 439 also spent over $22 million combined in their efforts to amend the state Constitution.
Melissa Hume, who spoke at the Saturday event, is optimistic. “We now have an opportunity to end abortion in our state from conception,” she said. “No compromise. This is an issue that is near and dear to the heart of God.”
Livestream of the event available here.
