Nebraska governor says young incest survivors should be forced to carry pregnancy: ‘Those are babies too’

The Republican governor of Nebraska, Pete Ricketts, has said that he would outlaw all abortions with no exception for rape and incest survivors if the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade.

He added that he will call a special session to take “further steps” to “protect preborn babies” as he deemed Roe v Wade a “horrible decision”.

“Nebraska is a pro-life state. I believe in life against conceptions and those are babies too,” Mr Ricketts told CNN’s Dana Bash when asked if he thinks a young girl who was raped should carry that pregnancy to term.

“If Roe v Wade, a horrible constitutional decision, gets overturned by the Supreme Court, which we’re hopeful of here in Nebraska, we’ll take further steps to protect those preborn babies,” he insisted.

Anchor Bash asked: “Including in the case of rape or incest?”

“They’re still babies, too,” Mr Ricketts replied. “Yes, they’re still babies.”

He said he intended to work with the speaker of the legislature to have a special session and do more to protect unborn babies. “We’ll have to see what the decision is before we could take further steps but that would certainly be my intention,” the governor said.

Ahead of the politically defining mid-term elections, abortion rights have taken a central stage in the wake of a leaked draft opinion from the conservative-majority Supreme Court that signals the end of the landmark 1973 decision providing constitutional protections for abortion care.

The leaked draft opinion, which suggested striking down the federal right to abortion, has triggered protests and demonstrations across the country.

The Women’s March, Planned Parenthood Action Fund and other abortion rights advocates carried out huge rallies in nearly 400 cities and towns, including New York City, Los Angeles, Washington DC, Chicago and Austin, Texas, on 14 May.

Protesters held signs of uteri and images of coat hangers to symbolise the dangers to women who would be forced to resort to illegal measures to terminate pregnancies.

Currently, 13 US states have so-called “trigger” bans in place that would effectively and immediately ban abortion once Roe V Wade is reversed.

Nebraska does not have such a law. Their attempt to strike down exceptions for rape and incest survivors was blocked by a legislative filibuster last month, but failed by only two votes.

A wave of legislation in Republican-led states has proposed eliminating abortion access in most cases and criminalising abortion care.

Governor Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma, which recently passed laws to prohibit abortion after six weeks of pregnancy and in the case of medical emergencies, has also endorsed abortion bans.

Fox News anchor Shannon Bream asked Mr Stitt: “The argument is that a victim may not know at six weeks that she is pregnant. So what do you say to a woman who finds herself in that situation, lives in your state, and feels like she has no option?”

“That is a human being inside the womb,” he replied. “And we’re going to do everything we can to protect life, and love both the mother and the child. And we don’t think killing one to protect the other is the right thing to do either. And our heart is super compassionate about that.”