Nebraska state Sen. Merv Riepe’s vote blocking a near-total abortion ban reflects a growing realization among some GOP lawmakers that staking extreme positions on abortion might be out of step with voters.
Yet the 80-year-old Republican has also raked in accolades, becoming an unlikely hero for those fighting to protect abortion access in Nebraska and around the country in the year since the Supreme Court overturned. Abortion advocates wept in the Capitol after Riepe’s April 27 vote. A downtown Omaha novelty store is now selling blue T-shirts and tank tops that say “Hot Merv Summer” in bold white type.
Russell, who has always backed abortion rights, said her frustration with Republicans and their agenda has only become more intense since the rise of Donald Trump, whom she voted against twice. “I know there are probably some in there that think I betrayed them, but I tell you what, I’ve told them before, I don’t answer to them, I am going to vote my own vote. I’m going to vote it how I see it. And if they don’t like it, go away,” Riepe said in an interview last week. “I’ve told the party this. My vote belongs to the people of my district, not to the Republican Party.
On a recent Tuesday morning, a group of local Republicans, 11 men and one woman, gathered in the backroom of Wheatfields Eatery and Bakery, an Omaha restaurant Nancy Meyer, 70, a lifelong Republican who voted for Trump twice, said her politics changed dramatically afterwas overturned. She and her husband, Bruce, 70, also a lifelong Republican, have recently switched their party affiliation to independent“The Christian right takes this on because it makes them feel good — they can say they’re doing something good that they think supports their religion.
The couple, married 49 years, said they’ve lost friends after becoming more outspoken about abortion rights. Still, Nancy believes there are many more people like them who have long voted Republican and don’t want to see women stripped of their rights; they’re just staying silent out of fear of being outcast like them.
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