Are Republican Women OK?

We attempt to answer that question from New York Magazine.  Later, two members of the Nebraska Family Alliance promote their "Protect Women and Children" initiative.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Scott Vordiz Lucy, we let yesterdaycome and go without acknowledging the one year
anniversary of that submersible that got folded. When it was down there looking at
the Titanic. Something happened and thething absolutely imploded and killed all of those

(00:22):
inside in that little portable submarine portable, that little submarine that they used to
get on Titanic, that was oneyear ago yesterday, and some of the
people with a couple of different agenciesthat were looking to continue manned travel to
undersea sites and submersibles like the onethat. I mean, there's nothing left.

(00:49):
I mean it just absolutely like snapyour fingers and it was like it
and the people inside of it neverexisted. And there are people with these
companies going, oh, no,we're going to go back, you go
back. I'm not going back ornot bay for me, right, I
would, but I want it tobe much later in my life, Like

(01:11):
I got plans next week. Soif they said, hey, we're going
down to I mean, if itwere something where we're going down to explore
the murky depths of Carter Lake,I'll do that. The pressure at what
thirty five feet deep or whatever,Carter Lake I'll probably be all right,

(01:34):
but yeah, to the bottom ofthe ocean. Not now. But if
I were insert age at which Ithink would be near the end of my
life and I've had a good run, but I don't want to say on
the radio because there are people listeningwho are that age who don't want to
be like, hey, I'm stillspry. I could take you, you
know, which is probably accurate.Then you know that whatever age that is,

(01:59):
i'd go, oh, if Ireach that's a pretty good run.
And therefore, I mean, ifif you're gonna go anyway, just getting
folded by pressure in the abyss gottabe a pretty decent way to go.
The last thing you see is youknow that giant octopus from twenty thousand leagues

(02:20):
under the sea coming out from theother side of the Titanic, and you
got a shark coming on, youknow, one side, and you're like
uh oh, and then suddenly yousee a little air bubble pop up on
the side like where like, hey, did someone forget to tighten that?
And then but you're gone. Iguess you know you got to go somehow.
I suppose that quickly would be okay, let's do it. But you

(02:44):
bring up an interesting point about CarterLake. You've seen river Monsters the show.
No, what's that You've never seenthat? Okay, well I've heard
it fishes the guy who fishes,but he's fishing for river monsters. Bass
Masters, No, I've seen bassMasters. No, these are cat fish
that are as big as this room. You're my second favorite show. What's
your first favorite show? Bass Masters? You know, a fishing show.

(03:06):
Yeah, I know, bass Masters. There's your eighties movie reference for this
segment of the radio program Jaws.No. Didn't think that we'd ever have
to bust that one out, Buthere we are Ghostbusters too. Please continue.
Well, I think it would bereally cool to go into some of
these really deep rivers. I woulddo that in a small submarine, sure,
So bringing up Carter Lake made methink of that, because I don't

(03:28):
know if I'd go in the bottomof Carter Lake. I don't don't know
that, Oh I would, Idon't know. I don't know what I
want to see down there. Whatdo you think is down Now? We
have to now, we have togo. I'm sure we have divers that
have been if they're listening, theycan cost and tell. Yeah, I

(03:49):
you know, if I, ifI had the equipment to be able to
explore the murky depths of area waterways. There's really only one thing that I
do, like first, I meanbefore I did anything else, Like,
well, first we got to checkthis off. I would just go to
some of the ponds that area golfcourses and just haul mostly to get my

(04:11):
own golf balls back. Do youhave an arm on this thing? Yeah,
yeah, you got an arm onit, all right, and just
just scooping up probably a lot ofthe golf balls that I hid in there.
Do you know, Lucy, Iplay a lot of golf. Do
you know that I have never losta golf ball? Then why do you
want to go steal everybody else's?Well, it's not I think some of
minor Well, I know some ofmine are at the bottom of these ponds.

(04:33):
You just said you didn't lose one. I know they're not lost.
I know where they are. Ohgotcha. I've never lost a ball.
I have only, on several occasionsdecided not to do what was necessary to
find or retrieve golf balls. ButI've never lost one. I mean even
sometimes you hit and you go wheredid that go? And no one saw

(04:54):
it? Like hit off a tree, and it's like it seemingly disappeared,
like I know it's within a couplehundred yards of you know, this area,
I could find it. I've onlydecided not to do what was necessary
to retrieve it. So therefore I'venever lost a god? Do you want
to talk about this New York Magazinestory? New York Magazine has an interesting

(05:16):
cover story. The headline how didwell that? The article is how did
Republican women end up like this?But the cover is a mashup of Marjorie
Taylor Green, Christy Nome And Ithought that uh Lauren Bobert Lauren Beatlejuice Bobert

(05:42):
in Colorado was part of this aswell. And the cover says, are
Republican women okay? Two ways oftaking that? First of all, like
are they all right with you?Are Republican women okay with you? Yeah?
We yeah, Republican women ie yougot you know? Are Republican women

(06:02):
okay? The other way, andthis is where the article starts diving into
the murky depths of the conservative subconscious, of the more feminine members of the
conservative ideology. They're asking like arethey okay? In terms of why are
you going down this road, marchinglockstep like Stepford wives, subservient to this

(06:29):
maga culture that doesn't respect you orwant to give you healthcare choices. This
is what this article is talking about. They think that these women are somehow
just being brainwashed, running down thispath with guns and bibles and maga hats

(06:53):
and just saying like every Republican womanright now is killing dawn ugs like Christy
Nolan, shooting guns like Lauren Bobert, posing with these assault weapons, these
military style assault weapons aka a firearm. When do I get to talk about

(07:16):
de guns? Oh? In justa couple of minutes, okay, And
mocking these hard working progressive women whoare just trying to get the work of
the American people done, Mocking themlike Marjorie Taylor Green does while spouting out
conspiracy theories, having no idea whatshe's talking about, and falling in behind.

(07:38):
They're the leader of this pack.Donald J. Trump a bigot,
someone who's been found libel of sexualassault, and all these conservative men they
don't respect. They want to grabyou by the I think I had a
sound effect we used to use forthat old statement. They Republican men like

(08:01):
Trump and all the rest of them. They just want to grab you by
the yeah or if if you will, they just want to grab you by
the yeah. Sometimes it fights back. Now, that's what That's what these
Republican women are. That's who theyare. That's what they're doing. It's

(08:22):
the assessment of New York Magazine.They even took aim at Senator Marcia Blackburn,
the Republican from Tennessee. What doesshe do here in the last couple
of years that kind of got aheadline there on the subject of women.
Well, we'll pick up there andI'll give you my assessment of who a

(08:43):
majority of Republican women are that hasbeen completely missed by this article that's coming
up next Scott. New York Magazinehas a cover story that features a mashup
of the faces and bodies of MarjorieTaylor Green, Christie Nome. And I

(09:05):
want to say that because it's LaurenBobert holding the gun. At least I
thought it was, you know,just a mashup of some of these high
profile Republican women. What is thislike a cutout ransom note? Yes,
it looks like a cutout ransom note. That's a perfect description, thank you.
It's like they tried to Frankenstein.You know who they think a Republican

(09:28):
woman is, and they've decided it'sMarjorie Taylor Green Christynam. It probably Lauren
Bobert. You're the one who poseswith guns and goes to see Beetlejuice and
gets kicked out of the theater andanother person that comes up in the story
because that's the picture. And thenthe cover says, are Republican women?

(09:50):
Okay, the article's titled how didRepublican women end up? Like this?
So here's what the New York magazinesays about it. Quote for our latest
cover story. The author here reportsreports on the surprising evolution of the Republican

(10:11):
woman, their wrath, sweetness,strength, and subservience to the maga right
subservience anyone married to a conservative woman? How's that going? She pretty subservient?

(10:31):
Really? Yeah? I know that'salso what I've In fact, if
my wife is listening, who Idon't I don't know how to pigeonhole her
politically. I don't really talk aboutthis in the radio a lot. I've
made some references to when we mettwenty three years ago. She had just

(10:56):
got done helping the Ralph Nader forPresident campaign in Lawrence, Kansas. It
doesn't really get more progressive than that. And she still has some progressive thoughts
in the last twenty three years independentIn anything I've said, I have never

(11:18):
said, like, you need tothink this, What do you think about
that? We so rarely talk aboutpolitics at home unless she brings it up,
and then I just I sit thereand listen to what she has to
say. I'm always interested. Butshe's gone from in the last twenty three
years from someone who in Lawrence,Kansas was canvassing for Ralph Nader to someone

(11:43):
who is fiercely conservative on certain lines. And I'll bring this up not to
speak from my wife. She's onlybecause she's not here, but because when
I think about how did Republican womenend up like this? I don't know
if my wife considers herself a Republican. I'll tell you what. How she

(12:09):
got to this point where she's certainlymuch more right politically than she used to
be. And this is completely missedby the story. This talks about guns
and Trump and sexism and all therest of this stuff. And you know,
like you know, racism and allthe rest of this. Where my

(12:33):
wife really got much more conservative.Is where I've seen a lot of women
in this country get pushed in amuch more conservative way. And it has
to do with being a bit ofa mama bear when it comes to whether
it's your kids or your parents.We're talking about women right now. Let's
say gen X women. Many ofthem are caught between I'm raising my kids

(12:58):
or my kids are in college,and I'm still raising my kids, and
I'm also looking out for my parentswho are on in years, and I'm
trying to help them out with thingsand on, and I'm also managing the
house because I'm not subservient to anybody. So on all of these things.
The number one thing that has pushedthese women further right is all these things

(13:22):
I'm trying to afford from my familyor help my parents be able to navigate
has gotten so ridiculously expensive. Ican't afford any of this stuff, whether
it's food each month, whether it'scollege for a watered down diploma. You

(13:43):
know that costs a bazillion times more, health care costs, and now you
start bringing in the parents. Youknow what has happened with senior care in
this country has gotten so expensive thatreally the best plan for a lot of
people in this country is here's whatyou do. You run out of money,

(14:07):
and now you've achieved popper status,and that's when welfare state starts to
take care of you. And maybewe can afford a little bit better now
that someone else is paying. Butwe're not going to do that until you've
completely run out of money. Solet's get you on that road to bankruptcy.
Isn't that your plan? Don't youwant to be a pauper. And

(14:30):
then you go meet with your kidsteachers and you see some of what is
being inculcated in schools. You seewhat's been watered down, You see the
policies in place, You see thesocial activism that has happened. You see

(14:52):
that there are people coming into thiscountry who seem to get whatever they want
and they don't pay for any ofit. Education, healthcare, They don't
have to pay some of the sametaxes when they're going to some of these
jobs. And meanwhile, if youhad left this country, re entered illegally
and come back here wanting the samethings for education, for healthcare, for

(15:16):
public safety, you can get allof them. You don't have to pay
because you're now in this country withno documented status. But if you were
born and raised here, you've beentrying to go about things the right way,
Well, you have to pay throughthe nose, because not only are
paying for you your family, You'realso got to pay for all the illegal
immigrants who come into this country thatwant the same things that they're not going
to pay. We can't expect themto pay for this stuff. You've got

(15:37):
to pay for all of it.And it's not fair and republican or I
should say. And women recognize allthese things happening, So yeah, would
they want to get in a carand drive cross country with Donald Trump all
the time? This is going tobe a great ride, best best car

(16:00):
ride you've ever taken. Frankly,no one's ever taken a better car ride
than this. Let me tell youabout what I'm gonna do in this car
ride. You know, I don'tknow that a lot of women are like,
yeah, I think Trump's the idealguy, and love his personality and
all the rest of the stuff.But when you've got Trump fighting, who

(16:25):
recognizes maybe not from his own personalexperiences, but you know, he'll he'll
go out there and he'll talk withthe people who are having these experiences and
agree this isn't right. And ifyou, you know, ask questions of
your local school board or principal andthey just clam up, close down,

(16:45):
or kick you out of a meeting, that's not right. And the other
side is looking to kick you outof that meeting. The other side is
saying, why can't you afford todo your patriotic duty and pay a little
bit more? What do you meanyou want this? What do you mean
you don't want that? You know? This is how the new America has

(17:06):
to be? Is it any wonderthat these mama bears are moving over to
a more conservative side? And thenyou have this. This story in New
York Magazine also takes aim At didn'tforget about this Senator Marsha Marsha Blackburn of

(17:26):
Tennessee, blaming her for the exchangeshe had with Katanji Brown Jackson. This
was the nominee President Biden nominated herto serve on the Supreme Court, and
in twenty twenty two, Senator Blackburnasked Justice in waiting Brown Jackson, what

(17:52):
is that your definition of a woman? And Katanji brown Jackson did some verbal
gymnastics and then ultimately said, Ican't I can't decide. I'm not a
biologist. And this was Senator Blackburn, you know, her fault. According

(18:17):
to the article quote two years later, Republicans remain cruelly closed to the realities
of gender fluidity and the trans experience. Women recognize that giving spots on sports
teams and athletic scholarships to men thatare supposed to go to women under Title

(18:45):
nine, that's why it was establishedfifty years ago. They recognize that's wrong.
They recognize that when their young daughtergoes into a public restroom and they're
followed by an adult man, thatthat's wrong. They recognize that given an
award of merit, an honor that'ssupposed to go to a woman, you

(19:06):
know, women of the Year,all the rest of the stuff, and
it goes to a man who identifiesas a woman. These women recognize that's
you know, I don't mind thatperson living his best life. If this
is how he wants to dress,and this is what he wants to do
surgically, and this is what hewants to be called, I don't care.

(19:29):
He's an adult. He can makethese decisions. That's fine. But
women of the Year awards should probablygo to women I and then you have
this article that says Republicans remain cruellyclosed to the realities of gender fluidity and
the trans experience. That's the assessmentof New York Magazine that wants to know

(19:52):
how did Republican women end up likethis? Probably because they're looking at the
more liberal z of the political spectrumand wondering how did liberal women end up
like this? Which is kind ofwhere we are in this country. Most
people looking at someone on the otherside of the political spectrum and just looking
at him, going the hell isthe matter with you? When the reality

(20:17):
is I think most of the peopleacross these spectrums what's best for their family
and their country, But they feellike if I give any ground, that
that's somehow putting me in on aposition of losing this battle. And we've

(20:40):
decided it's a battle and we can'tlose. You know when at the end
of the day, you're trying tomake the budget work, and you're looking
at inflation, and you're looking atwhat's going on the impact of all of
those streaming across our southern border,and you're looking at young girls having positions
on sports teams, college Scholarshi's recordsstolen from them by men. When you

(21:03):
look at the social activism that happensin schools, you got people graduating from
high school or college with the diplomawhen they can't even spell diploma. These
people are completely unemployable and they gotthe same degree as your kid. You've
been trying to say, oh,work hard, it's important. You got
to do the best you can,and you don't see that rewarded all the
time. Yeah, you don't loveeverything Trump or Biden is doing as the

(21:26):
standard bearer for your political party.But ultimately you've got to recognize that what's
happening here is probably the wrong wayto go. And if we could find
some way of working together rather thanas New York Magazine has done trying pigeonhole

(21:48):
conservative women into some gun toting,crazy, subservient, hypocritically sexist caricature,
then maybe, just maybe we'd bea little better off off. Fox News
Update next, Scott Voice News Radioeleven ten. Lucy Chapman's here. She's
a whole lot of woman. Andno, I did not call you fat

(22:12):
well you did, No, Ididn't. I'm just gonna let it go
because you know what, who canargue with the truth in the no I'm
saying you are. You're a realwoman there, Lucy Chapman. Congratulations,
You've been working hard and you've achievedthat status. I'm proud of you.
You've put in the effort and you'renow a real woman. I don't know
what I'm talking about. We've gota couple of people coming in here after

(22:37):
ten o'clock circulating a petition to battlethe two petitions going around here to enshrine
access to abortion in the Nebraska stateConstitution. These individuals with the Nebraska Family
Alliance have a different view of thatissue. We'll talk with them after ten

(23:03):
and as far as real woman status, we switch gears completely after ten thirty
and welcome back to the program.Our friend Teresa A. Cassidy AKA for
those you know, for men ofa certain age, gen xer is like
me. Teresa Cassidy is and foreverwill be the Fox forty two Kids Club

(23:25):
girl. I like Teresa. Ilove Teresa, and you know you told
me I could leave. I wantto leave. No, you can you
do anything you want? I tellyou every day. So Teresa coming up
after ten thirty. I've interviewed hera number of times, usually in her
capacity with whatever organization she's representing.I've never just had a chance just to

(23:48):
sit there and pick her brain aboutFox forty two Kids Club girl status.
The reason we're doing that is becausein that capacity, she's been invited to
the Omaha Comic Con next weekend,and so now I just get a chance
to ask her questions, like,all right, so you're the Fox forty
two Kids Club girl. It's nineteenninety and you're I don't know how she

(24:10):
was nineteen twenty years old. Soyou had all these twelve year olds like
me in the throes of adolescents,like finding her at events and hitting on
her like do you have a HarleyDavidson? You like that Harley Davidson,
you know, and just kind ofa little boy kind of away. By
the way, there's your seventies moviereference for this segment of the radio program.

(24:32):
You got that one bears. Ohmy gosh, I'm so proud of
you. Where are the dings?Yes, Lucy got one. Lucy got
a movie reference. I didn't seethat coming. Thought you were just gonna
mumble Jaws again like you normally know. I'm so proud of you. Right
now. See, now that you'veachieved real woman status here, what happens?
You've upped your game. So NewYork Magazine wonders if Republican women are

(24:56):
okay, and the course of discussionover the first part of the hour,
I determine that they're just a littlebit of alright, baby, They're okay,
everything's fine. And I don't knowwhy they have to be charactertured like
that, some sort of subservient,hypocritically sexist Maga Stepford wife. Well,

(25:19):
not every Republican woman is okay.Mayor Jean Stothard, we'll be discussed in
just a moment here about a differentissue completely unerrelated to that. I just
wanted to scare her in case she'slistening. No, this woman is a
state senator in Vermont. Her nameis Mary Morrissey. And here's what happened.

(25:45):
A Democrat, a state representative namedJim Carroll would go into this little
coat room. I guess the legislatorsall show up in Vermont. They get
a little coat room. But yourjacket on the hook, and if you
have a bag or something, here'sanother hook. He can put your back.
So he put he has a littletote bag that he has, and
so he puts his bag up there, and uh, it seemed like almost

(26:07):
every day he would come back andthe bag would be soaking wet, like
there's water inside the bag. Andhe's like, is something did I did
I pack something in here that's melting? Do I have a water bottle in
here that's leaking? No, there'snothing in the bag. And he's looking
up at the ceiling. Is therea pipe that burst? He doesn't know

(26:29):
what's going on, but he suspectsthat something is a miss. So he
hides a camera across the way therein this this room, you know,
in the state House hallway, justoutside his committee room, to see what's
going on with this bag. Andhere comes sixty seven year old Vermont state

(26:53):
Representative Mary Morrissey, Republican, witha cup of water and she just comes
up, looks around to make sureno one sees her, and she dumps
the water inside his bag. They'dbeen they'd had a a tenuous relationship in

(27:14):
the state legislature, battling over thisor that. They both serve on a
key legislative committee, and they hadnot been getting along. So now he
says, look, I know thatyou're She's like, no, no,
no, I I flicked some wateron your bag. There was a bug
on there, there was a therewas a scary spider on there, and

(27:37):
I was trying to get it offby flicking it with water. He's like,
here's the video eminence of you justpouring water into my bag, which
she did over the course of severalmonths before it got discovered. Here and
let's see here. I think sheapologized to the entire house on money Day,

(28:00):
saying I am truly ashamed of myactions. Did she giggle after that?
No, I would have. Iknow, I'm so sorry. I
don't know if she brought up becausea lot of times in this discussion she'd
bring up this guy who's who hadthe wet tote bag, that he had
a well publicized drunk driving arrest atthe state House. So is she,

(28:26):
you know, kind of I don'tknow she brought that up in the apology,
But he says her apology holds aboutas much water as my canvas bag.
So not every Republican woman is Okay, Well, that story's better than
I thought. I thought she wasgoing to be hosing it down in her
own personal way. If you catchthat would be a problem. Yeah,

(28:51):
she just you know, squat overit all. Right, Now, how's
this Republican woman working out for Omaha. We've got wallet hub that is ranked
the best run and worst run cities. I'll tell you where Omaha ranks.
And this story came out before MayrisDoth had a presentation yesterday and said,

(29:11):
yes, the streetcar costs fifty percentmore than the price tag we'd originally presented
two years ago. But it's fine, It's totally fine. We'll talk about
this next. Wallet Hub, whichis an organization I believe only exists to
rank cities and get people like meto talk about them in media, has

(29:33):
come up with some statistics to seeif everyone whining about the state of their
local government is justified or not.Their criteria is the amount of public funds
available versus the quality of services thatcitizens receive. So that's the assessment.
Here's how much money we have versushere's how the quality of the services that

(29:59):
citizens receive. And they've listed thebest run all the way down to the
worst run cities in America. Whatdo you want first, Lucy, best
or worst run city? Oh?Give me the worst. Well, the
worst is San Francisco. Huh.And then Oakland, which is right right
up the road from San Francisco.Then we'll swing yeah what you could either

(30:22):
throw a rock or swing a yeahanything. Then golf Court, Mississippi,
and the New York City, Flint, Michigan, Cleveland, Tacoma, Washington,
Denver, Detroit, Los Angeles.These are the worst run cities,
best run cities. Your top fiveNumber five Oklahoma City, number four,
Nashua, New Hampshire, Number three, Boise, Idaho, number two Lexington,

(30:44):
Kentucky, and number one Nampa,Idaho. That doesn't count. Nampa
is a suburb of Boise. Youcan't just call them all one thing,
you know, but they really likeBoise and Nampa, Idaho. So where's
Omaha. We're like almost fifty pointsbehind Lincoln. What Lincoln comes in twenty

(31:07):
fourth, Omaha seventy two. Weranked fiftieth in city services, but eighty
third in total budget per capita.That checks out, So what about that
budget on the streetcar? Yesterday,Meyristothert had a presentation and said, all
right, this was not unexpected,but the cost of the price tag for
the streetcar system is up fifty percentfrom the price tag we presented in twenty

(31:33):
twenty two. Yeah, everything isup about fifty percent from where things were
in twenty twenty two. But shesays, no big deal. We have
eleven projects on the way that aregoing to generate one point three billion dollars
in new development. That's going tobe a lot of revenue, more than
necessary to pay for the streetcar.OPPD, MUD and Nebraska Department of Transportation

(31:56):
to developers will kick in seventy milliondollars, which immediately makes me ask,
all right, if OPPD is kickingin twelve million dollars, MUD is kicking
in seven and a half million dollars, is the cost of our OPPD MUD
bills? Is that going to goup? No, that would never happen
asw much is that going to costit? So I'm a little concerned about

(32:17):
that, But she still says,no, no, no, we're not
raising taxes. No taxes will beincreased for all of this stuff. So
that was the assessment yesterday. Threehundred and eighty nine million dollars of the
total will come from the streetcar bondapproved by the city council, and that

(32:38):
will not be public fund, noneof its public fund. She still says
now, we're not going to havea vote on this, it's not public
money. So there's the latest onthe street car. We have a very
important series of initiatives that are beingput forth before Nebraska voters potentially in November.

(32:58):
Right now, there is a ballotinitiative. There's signature gathering going on
on three different fronts. Two ofthose are much more pro choice, the
other one is much more pro life. There is a ballid initiative that our
signatures are being collected for called ProtectWomen and Children. And this initiative says,

(33:19):
except when a woman seeks an abortionnecessitated by a medical emergency, or
when the pregnancy results from sexual assaultor incest, unborn children shall be protected
from abortion in the second and thirdtrimesters. This is the phrasing here,
and one of the organizations that's pushingthis is Nebraska Family Alliance. We welcome

(33:40):
here in the studio. Executive directorof the Nebraska Family Alliance, Karen Bowling
is here. Karen, great tohave you here, Great to be here,
Scott, thank you, and policydirector Nate Grows this year, Nate,
welcome back. Thanks very much,Scott. Great to have you guys.
Since Karen's in charge. We'll deferto her and talk with her first.
I've heard from a very pro lifepeople that are very happy you're doing

(34:02):
this compared to what is being presentedon the more pro choice side, but
they're upset that it doesn't include thefirst trimester. Let's first start off there.
Why second third trimester? Yeah,that's a great question, Scott.
And what we're trying to do isprotect what we currently have in state statute

(34:23):
senators. As you know, onLB. Five seventy four last year in
the twenty twenty three session, theypassed twelve week gestational protection, and so
we're trying to protect that. ButI think it's really important if you look
at this. We're not saying thatwe can't go back for greater protections,

(34:43):
but what we are saying is wewant to protect what we have now and
the reason behind that, Scott,I think it's important for your listeners to
know seven states have faced a similarballot issue like this, including extremely pro
life states like Nebraska, Ohio,Kentucky, and all of those states have
lost to the abortion industry. Sowe felt like it was really important to

(35:07):
give Nebraska it's a clear choice toprotect what we have as we continue to
grow the culture of life and love. Easy question for you and night,
when does life begin? Well,Scott, we believe that we're better when
when everybody counts and when everybody isgiven a shot at life. And you
know, personally, we believe thatlife begins at conception, and we believe

(35:30):
every life should be cherished and protected. And so the question that we're facing
really is how do we get there, especially in the context of where we're
at culturally and politically. We've beenliving under Roe v. Wade for fifty
years and we're seeing how people arereacting to the issue being given back to

(35:50):
the states, and so what's happeningis historic because abortion has never been directly
on the ballot before. And sothe question that we're asking is is how
do we best protect the progress thatwe have made and how do we continue
to build that culture of life becausethis is going to be voted on by
our entire state, and we wantto make sure ultimately that what happens immediately

(36:12):
in the upcoming election is that wedefeat the pro abortion initiative, because if
that doesn't happen, if we can'tdefeat what the abortion industry puts forward,
we lose all of our existing prolife laws, and we lose the ability
to pass greater protections going forward.Karen, the other side on this rarely
uses the term abortion. They talkabout women's health care choices not being taken

(36:36):
away by old men. So onthe issue of women's healthcare, does this
do anything to take away women's healthcarechoices? Well, our initiative would protect
women and protect statutes that we havethat informed consent you have to tell a
woman what the harms are of anabortion before you perform them. But I
think what we really want to focuson here the listeners is what protect our

(37:00):
rights would do. Actually, theyuse words like viability or the healthcare provider.
Those are all very vague words andterms that are very deceptive, because
we believe this actually protect our rightsputs women's health in greater danger. Because
we will lose the sonogram law,we will lose informed consent, and we

(37:23):
believe women deserve to know the truth. Ultimately, it's their decision, but
unless they're informed, I think itbrings greater harm to them. I don't
get to decide this issue, buthaving been here on news radio eleven ten
KFAB for about eighteen years, nowthis issue, of course comes up.
And the feedback I've received from kfabNation, which is a very interesting cross

(37:46):
section of Nebraskans, is that thereare some people who say that even something
like the morning after pill is aform of abortion that we should not allow
ustand we want you you have youhave conception right there and and that's life,
and don't even touch it. Evensomething like the morning after pill is

(38:09):
is is too late in the process. And then you have some people,
and I don't hear from many ofthese people that say, if a woman
decides to change your mind five secondsbefore the doctor says I can see the
head, you know, well intothe end the last minutes of the third
trimester, that is a woman's choiceand she should have the choice to make

(38:29):
that decision at that time. Mostpeople fall somewhere in the middle, and
I think a lot of people feltlike Nebraska got it right at twelve weeks.
There's some people say twelve weeks,I mean, there's there's formation,
there, there's life there, there'sI mean, where are we at with
twelve weeks in terms of you know, fetal not viability, but in terms

(38:52):
of the you know, is therea heartbeat? At twelve weeks. I
don't remember mine. Yes, thereis a heartbeat at twelve weeks, and
I would agree. I think we'relooking at those of us that are core
to the core to pro life webelieve, just as Nate said in conception,
but we're looking at an election thatwe're not only talking to pro life
people. This is reasonable policy.It does not enshrine abortion, and it

(39:17):
protects then what we have, likesonograms. A woman when she sees that
ultrasound, that's a game changer.Do you want a woman who says,
I don't I just found out Iwas pregnant. It turns out it was
thirty weeks in. Yeah, Ididn't know, you know, So I
just found out. I only justheard. And these people want me to

(39:38):
go through this gut wrenching sonogram soI can see my child and fingers and
toes here on an ultrasound. AndI don't want to do it, And
the fact that they're making me doit is cruel and unusual punishment to that,
you would respond, they may lookat the ultrasound, nobody is forcing
them to look. And so Ithink part of that's what is told to

(39:58):
us often. But here's the reality. We need to think through from a
Christian perspective, how do we loveour neighbor? How do we love our
neighbor? Should we care about thewoman's health? Should we care about that
preborn child? We believe so,and so I think the laws that we

(40:19):
have in place are very reasonable.And that's where Nebraska's land. In fact,
statistics tell us that even nationally,when you do pulling nationally, should
a women have access to abortion upuntil birth where they can feel pain,
there is a resounding absolutely not.That's Karen Bowling, executive director at the

(40:40):
Nebraska Family Alliance, Nate Gro's policydirector with this organization here as well,
And Nate, I want to comeback to you for these next issues as
it relates to not only the phrasingof fetal viability, but also just from
a policy standpoint. We've got threeinitiatives, two are on one side,
ones on the other side. Whathappens if they all get the signatures and

(41:04):
they all get fifty percent of thevote at least here, so what happens
in Nebraska at the end of thatpotential road. We'll come back talk to
Nate and Karen more about this next. Scott Bodies were You're going News Radio
eleven ten KFAB. We talked aboutsome parameters for when abortion should or should
not be allowed in Nebraska. Iread the language here from Protect Women and

(41:28):
Children, a potential pro life ballotinitiative. There's a signature gathering push and
we'll talk more about that in amoment for voters in Nebraska in November.
Says, except when a woman seeksan abortion necessitated by a medical emergency,
or when the pregnancy results from sexualassault or incest, unborn children shall be
protected from abortion and the second andthird trimesters on one of these initiatives.

(41:53):
On the other side, here's thephrasing that they have. They say,
quote, all persons shall have afundamental right to abortion until fetal viability,
or when needed to protect the lifeor health of the pregnant patient, without
interference from the state or its politicalsubdivisions. Fetal viability means the point and

(42:15):
pregnancy win and the professional judgment ofthe patient's treating healthcare practitioner, there is
a significant likelihood of the fetuses sustainedsurvival outside the uterus without the application of
extraordinary medical measures. What is thetimeframe here, Nate? What are they
talking about, do we know Scott. This is so important because this is

(42:37):
a intentionally vague and deceptively worded initiativethat, if approved, would create a
right to abortion all the way upuntil birth. So they're using the guise
of viability and most people will saythat means twenty three or twenty four weeks,
but that's not what the initiative says. As you read, what the
initiative says is that viability is determinedby the attending healthcare practition Well, guess

(43:00):
who that is an abortion it's theabortion doctor. So the person performing the
abortion has the sole authority to determineif the child is viable based off of
if they think that child can havesustained survival without extraordinary medical care. So
if you think about a child that'sborn prematurely who might need a short stay

(43:21):
in the NIKU, that child isnow a candidate for abortion. But beyond
that, it also creates a rightto abortion whenever necessary for the health of
the pregnant patient. Health is undefined, except that it's once again determined solely
by the abortionist. In this sametype of broad health exception has been used

(43:42):
to include not just physical health butthings like emotional health, financial health,
and familial health without limit. That'show far this initiative is going. But
there's another phrase in here that's reallyimportant to understand, and that's without interference
from the state. That's very seriousbecause that means that our state laws can't
touch it. So if this initiativepasses and there is a right to abortion

(44:07):
without interference from the state, thatmeans that all of our existing laws would
be a race. Not just ourtwelve week protection but our laws that require
an ultrasound have certain information about differentoptions as well as parental notification. Because
this initiative wants to give a rightto abortion to all persons, so that
means it's not only women, butchildren who have a right to abortion without

(44:30):
state interference. And that creates ascenario where you can have human traffickers who
are taking girls from our state orbringing in girls from out of state to
come get an abortion in Nebraska withouttheir parents ever even knowing that they were
pregnant. So, regardless of howyou feel about the issue of abortion,
if you care about protecting the healthand safety of women and parental rights,

(44:52):
this Planned Parenthood initiative needs to berejected. Rather than enshrined as a fundamental
right in our state constitution. Karen, there are a number of people on
the choice side that bring up alot of examples. Well, if this
happens, then you know these evilRepublican states won't let a woman make this
decision. And these examples are soinfinitesimally statistically small that they almost never happen.

(45:19):
And how often is this happening though? Where I mean his people on
the pro choice say side, accuseyou guys of lying that there's all these
women who decide in the eight anda half month I changed my mind,
I don't want this kid, Andthey say, this almost never happens.
So how many people are we talkingabout here who would make a decision in

(45:43):
the third trimester not to have thatkid just because they might be a Toned's
point, emotionally distressed by having thechild. Well, one of the things
that I can tell you that hasnot been allowed in Nebraska for quite some
time. So as many people maybe familiar with the Department of Health than
Human Services provide statistics, So therecurrently are not statistics there that we could

(46:06):
give you a viable number. Butwhat I can tell you is that in
other states that do allow access upintel birth, the numbers are high.
It does happen, I think kindof the mindset of what I would call
Nebraska nice, we just don't envisionthat even being possible. But if it

(46:27):
was permitted, I do believe thatit would be possible and people would choose
to do such. And the thoughtof that, I think is where we
really need to look at this.That protect our rights just goes too far.
It's not where we're at as apeople in the state Nate, What
directive have we gotten from the Secretaryof State of Nebraska. If let's say

(46:52):
we got these three different ballot initiatives, they all get the signatures, they're
all on the ballot, you gottwo pro choice, one pro life,
and they all get over fifty percent. You know, so they've all passed,
but they all cancel each other out. What happens here, Yeah,
it's a great question, and that'snever happened before in Nebraska. But we
actually do have a process for ifthat should happen. If you have conflicting

(47:14):
initiatives that both receive a majority voteboth pass, it actually becomes the initiative
with more votes is the one thattakes effect. So there's a lot at
stake. Each of these initiatives hasuntil July third to collect signatures, and
if enough were verified, they eachcould be on the ballot. And then
it's the initiative, assuming they geta majority vote, that gets the most

(47:37):
votes, that takes effect. AndI think, you know at the heart
of this, Scott. You know, I have two young children at home,
and when my wife was pregnant andI looked at those ultrasounds and I
saw those little fingers and little toesand faces. Those are the same little
fingers, toes and faces that greetme every day when I come home from

(47:58):
work. And that's what this isabout. These are children in the womb
that have their own DNA, theirown heartbeat, their own fingerprints, who
can move, smile, and feelpain, and whether or not they will
be protected in the state of Nebraska. This is always an example of a
woman making a health care decision independentof what some guy thinks. What if
the guy assisted in creating this lifeand he doesn't want this to happen to

(48:23):
the child, but she does.Then what what's unfortunate about that is there
are growing statistics of the number ofwomen who feel pressured to have abortion by
spouse's boyfriends, but even though theywould rather choose life. So I think
where we need to look at thisis with compassion too and the Beautiful Thing

(48:46):
Scott. Here in Nebraska there aretwenty nine pregnancy help organizations who come alongside
these individuals provide at no charge freewar resources including you know, the things
that you need, the tangible items, formula car seats all of that as

(49:07):
well as healthcare. And that's wherewe really need to land in helping people
understand you have other options besides abortion. This is called the Protect Women and
Children Initiative. It needs to havethe signatures to get on the Nebraska ballot.
How are we doing right now onthis process? And if people want

(49:29):
to sign this, what do theyneed to know? Well, we've got
a resource on our page and aresource page at Nebraska Family Alliance dot org.
We encourage you to check the landingpage Ballot Initiative. Everything you want
to know is there, and thenyou can call our office at four zero
two for seven seven, three,one nine one and we can point you

(49:52):
to a petition circulator in your areaNebraska Family Alliance dot Org for all the
details or four oh two for sevenseven, three, one nine one.
That is Karen Bowling, executive directorand Nate Grosse policy director with the Nebraska
Family Alliance again online at Nebraska Familyalliancedot org. If you get the signatures

(50:14):
and you get it on the initiativein November, on the ballot in November,
we will talk more before then,all Right, I look forward to
coming back Scott Scott Boys Mornings nineto eleven on news Radio eleven ten KFAB