OMAHA — After the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and sent abortion law back to the states, Nebraska lawmakers made it harder for women to get an abortion.

The officially nonpartisan Legislature banned most abortions after 12 weeks gestational age, or roughly 10 weeks after conception, tightening the previous 20-week ban. 

But women still seek reproductive care later than Nebraska law allows. A group of local funders with national help and ties are raising funds and awareness of out-of-state options.

Billboards and web ads

The group, Nebraska Abortion Resources, says it is doing so by spending “tens of thousands” of dollars on a billboard campaign along major highway and interstate corridors in Omaha and Ashland.

The billboards are located near 43rd and Dodge Streets, Interstate 80 near the 42nd Street exit and I-80 near Ashland. The group is also advertising on Instagram and Facebook.

The billboards say, “Abortion Should NOT Be a Crime.” They hint at legal consequences in Nebraska and other states when women have sought care too late, including a Norfolk-area case.

In that case, a Nebraska mother and daughter were convicted of charges stemming from the daughter aborting a fetus at 29 weeks of gestation, beyond the state’s then-allowed timeline. 

Investigators said in court documents that the mother bought the oral medication online to end her daughter’s pregnancy and that the two women buried the fetus.

Organizers say the billboards focused on crime because Nebraska has shortened how long a woman has to decide the fate of her pregnancy, and many women can’t get an appointment in time.

Opponents call ads misleading

Abortion-rights opponents call the ads misleading and say they are meant to draw attention to the ballot initiative and drum up support from people willing to consider other options. 

Shelley Mann, who spoke for the group behind the billboards, has spoken publicly in support of the ballot initiative to put a right to an abortion in the state constitution.

Staff time to Nebraska Abortion Resources is listed as an in-kind donation from Protect Our Rights, the group pushing the abortion-rights amendment campaign.

She considers the “complicated” Norfolk case a cautionary tale of what can happen when states make women feel they have few choices other than to break the law. 

“That’s two people who have had to go to jail because of seeking abortion care,” she said. “How could we have put an environment where they wouldn’t have had to do this secretly?”

Costs the group covers

The billboards list the website, AbortionNotACrime.com, where women who need care but might not be able to afford it can apply for financial assistance for travel costs and care.

Among the parts of the process the group will help pay for: flights, gas, lodging, meals, care and missed wages for people who lack paid sick days from their job or jobs.

The website says part of its funding comes from the Chicago Abortion Fund, an Illinois-based group that raises money to make reproductive care more affordable. 

An appointment for an abortion often costs $800, she said. Out-of-state appointments often cost more, Mann said, and costs can skyrocket quickly if you don’t have a place to stay.

“We collect donations … and our whole purpose is to make sure the financial implications of having an abortion are never a concern when somebody is making that decision,” Mann said.

Hundreds have sought help

Her group has helped about 900 people seek care, she said. She makes social media posts on TikTok and has supported women seeking care at an abortion clinic in Bellevue.

Nate Grasz of the Nebraska Family Alliance said he sees the effort by Nebraska Abortion Resources as “very deceptive” and part of an effort to “stoke fear into voters.”

His group supports a competing amendment initiative that would prevent lawmakers from loosening abortion restrictions beyond current law but would let them ban or restrict it further.

Neither he nor Sandy Danek of Nebraska Right to Life said they knew much about the group. Danek said it could be the start of funding other states have seen with abortion on the ballot.

Mann said she hopes voters will see her group’s point.

“Nebraskans want health care not handcuffs,” she said. “Why are we putting ourselves in position where we have to think about what is happening criminally?”