The trigger bill deserved to be shot down

Last week, “trigger bill” LB933, an abortion law, failed to overcome a filibuster in the Nebraska State Senate. 

This bill, which is similar to the 500 abortion bans that have been set in place by 41 states in the past three months the Guttmacher Institute reports, would ban abortions entirely in Nebraska if the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. To pass, it needed 33 votes, but it only received 31. 

With no days left in Nebraska’s legislative session, there is no clear path for this bill to become a law this year. 

Apparently, though, both sides of the abortion debate saw this as a huge win. 

Andi Curry Grubb, the state director of Planned Parenthood of Nebraska, said in Nebraska Public Media article published April 7, that this showed the changing views of Nebraska voters.

However, in that same article, Nate Gratz, who is with the Nebraska Family Alliance, said the vote shows the positive steps the pro-life movement is taking because the vote was so close. 

In a poll done in March by Impact Research, it was found that 55% of respondents opposed LB933 while 40% supported it.

In a largely red state, those numbers are surprising. I naturally would’ve assumed that they would’ve been flipped (and trust me, I did double-check to make sure I read the report right).

I know that the discussion on abortion has been one that has been brought up time and time again in the media, and even our own opinion pages here at The Eagle by myself and other editors. I’ve even briefly mentioned this bill before in a previous article.

But I think that, considering this news, it’s important to bring up again.

I think what this shows, above all else, is who the real victor is. I think that, while Gratz has a point, the obvious victor here are people who oppose the ban and believe in a woman’s right to bodily autonomy. 

Nebraskans, at least the ones who are reaching out to their senators and voting in polls, don’t want abortion to be banned entirely. 

I would hope that what they want is for women to feel safe in this state and that they don’t need to feel like they have to make a risky decision when it comes to ending a pregnancy.

Listen, just because abortion is legal, it doesn’t mean that everyone has to get one. You are all entitled to your own religious and personal views. If there is a reason you believe that you shouldn’t have an abortion, then it is your right as a woman to carry out your pregnancy. But that doesn’t mean that women who don’t share those same believes should be subject to them.

That is something I will preach about and continue to believe for a very long time.

Even though I say this hesitantly, I would like to applaud the Nebraska State Senators who voted against the abortion ban and kept a woman’s right to choose safe. 

In a country that feels like its closing the door on women’s reproductive rights, this little piece of resistance is momentous.