The pro-life community in Nebraska achieved a major victory last fall as the state became the first in the nation to place protections for the unborn in its state Constitution. This came along with the defeat of a competing amendment intended to enshrine the right to abortion in the state constitution. Similar amendments had passed previously in several other states.
On Friday, Nebraska Right to Life held a celebratory Gala with actor Jim Caviezel as its keynote speaker, an event which drew over 1,200 guests to the Embassy Suites Convention Center in La Vista. The following morning, they held their annual Walk for Life at the Nebraska State Capitol.
The Pro-Life Battle Plan
Election night was a nail-biter for pro-lifers in Nebraska, when it appeared that the pro-life amendment would go down in defeat shortly after the polls had closed.
“I don’t know about you, but I stayed up until 3 AM that night,” said Fr. Tim Danek, emcee for the Walk for Life and son of Nebraska Right to Life Executive Director Sandy Danek. “I was getting a little worried. I was on the phone with my mom. At about 9:30, it changed. If you remember that, for those of you who stayed up, it was quite a moment.”
“It would have meant late-term abortion in the state of Nebraska. I can’t imagine what that would have looked like in our state,” said Sandy Danek. “Because we passed 434, we have protection for a baby in the womb in the second and third trimesters in our state. That’s a big deal.”
US Senator Pete Ricketts spoke at the Gala, and he credited the concept of defeating the pro-abortion amendment with a competing pro-life amendment to Jessica Flanagain. Flanagain is a political consultant and partner at Axiom Strategies and has worked with Ricketts for several years.
“Jessica came up with a solution: let’s take our current law and let people vote for that,” Ricketts said. “We will be able to help contrast our current law and what it does versus what the abortion forces are trying to do.”
Nebraska’s pro-life battle plan is now a model for other states.
“States around the country literally call us, want to meet with us, want to talk with us about, ‘what are you doing in Nebraska that you can accomplish this,'” Danek said. “What is the secret recipe that brought you to this level of success?”
“We have now given the rest of the nation a roadmap, even for states like Ohio that have put this really horrible language in their Constitution,” Ricketts said. “We have given them a roadmap on how they can defeat planned parenthood and pro-abortion forces in the future.”
Getting off the bench
A pivotal moment in the campaign came with a TV ad featuring Nebraska star volleyball player Rebekah Allick — along with softball teammates Jordyn Bahl, Hannah Camenzind, Lauren Camenzind, Abbie Squier, and Malia Thoms — telling pro-life voters to “Get off the bench.” Allick appeared at Friday’s Gala to accept an award on behalf of the student athletes and also spoke on the capitol steps at the Walk for Life the following morning.
“I’m just kind of sick of the bystander mentality and the toleration of everything,” Allick said. “There is life at stake. You are more than a clump of cells. You are more than just an accident. You are not unplanned.”
Women also victims of abortion
The Walk for Life in Lincoln draws over a thousand guests annually to the Capitol steps. This year, Allick joined them along with US Senators Deb Fischer and Pete Ricketts, Congressmen Don Bacon and Mike Flood, Gov. Jim Pillen, and 16 Nebraska state senators: Bob Andersen (LD49), Beau Ballard (LD21), Rob Clements (LD2), Barry DeKay (LD40), Myron Dorn (LD30), Robert Dover (LD19), Rick Holdcroft (LD36), Mike Jacobson (LD42), Kathleen Kauth (LD31), Loren Lippincott (LD34), Dan Lonowski (LD33), Dan McKeon (LD41), Jared Storm (LD23), Tanya Storer (LD43), Paul Strommen (LD47), Brad von Gillern (LD4).
Saturday’s main speaker was Elizabeth Gillette, who spoke at Friday’s Gala about her traumatic experience after being prescribed a chemical abortion pill. She described in detail how women are also victims of abortion.
“After I had my abortion and expelled an amniotic sack — with a full and complete embryo inside with recognizable fingers, toes, and eyes — I developed post-traumatic stress disorder,” Gillette said. “I felt that I was worthless, that I deserved to be abused, and the more you talk to and interact with women who have experienced this, you’ll realize that these are all very, very common to women who have experienced this.”
Allick was also invited to speak to the crowd. She specifically addressed a woman in the front row, who sat in a wheelchair and held a sign that read, “My child was a victim of my choice, for that I regret my abortion.”
“I want you to know, they forgive you,” Allick told her. “There are people out here that made mistakes because they weren’t told the full truth. And if anyone out here did have an abortion, it is not your fault. You weren’t told the whole truth, and there’s a community, everyone here gathered here today, that has your back.”
Caviezel’s call to action
At Friday’s Gala, keynote speaker Jim Caviezel praised Nebraska for leading the way with the 2010 Pain, Capable Unborn Child Protection Act and its recently-passed Constitutional amendment.
“Because of you, Nebraska became the first state in the nation to enshrine protections for babies in the second and third trimesters within its constitution, a monumental victory for life,” Caviezel said. “You are a beacon of hope, a force for change, and truly a voice for the voiceless.”
Caviezel also spoke about the continuing work ahead for the pro-life movement, particularly in states like California. He spoke about a bill, AB2223, that Gov. Gavin Newsom recently signed, which would strip the ability of coroners to investigate miscarriages, stillbirth abortion, and prenatal death due to causes that occurred in utero. Caviezel said that this law effectively negates the protection of the Infants Born Alive Protection Act and allows for the secret killing of babies born alive during the first 28 days.
“These realities are hard to face, but by God, we’ve got to face them, because God’s children are not disposable,” Caviezel said in his concluding remarks. “They are not inconvenient or burdens. They are not just clumps of cells and not without purpose from God.”
