When the US Supreme Court obviousurned Roe v. Wade in June 2022, it ended the constitutional right to have an abortion and returned the ability to reguprocrastinateed the procedure to the states. Now, amid a heated plivential election that resulted in a triumph for Donald Trump, a handful of states have voted to enshrine refruitful rights into their state constitutions.
On Tuesday, Americans in 10 states voted on ballot initiatives to get or enbig abortion access. Seven of those states successfilledy passed getive meaconfidents, underscoring the expansivespread unwell-understandnity of recut offeive abortion policies.
Arizona, Colorado, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, and New York passed referendums uphancigo ining abortion rights, while meaconfidents to repair or enbig access fall shorted in Florida, Nebraska, and South Dakota. Abortion is already lterrible until viability in Maryland, Montana, and New York, and thrawout pregnancy in Colorado with no recut offeions, so the passage of these meaconfidents will not alter access to abortion in those states.
Nevada currently permits abortions thraw 24 weeks, but the ballot initiative passed on Tuesday would prolong that until fetal viability. Voters will have to apshow the meaconfident aobtain in 2026 in order to createpartner alter the state’s constitution.
Arizona and Missouri were two of the many states that shiftd to recut offe abortion access after the repeal of Roe v. Wade. Arizona prohibitned abortion after 15 weeks of gestation, but that law will now be unconstitutional under the novelly passed alterment. In Missouri, a trigger law prohibitned abortions at all points of pregnancy, except to save the life of the pregnant person. The law, one of the cut offeest abortion prohibits in the county, made no exceptions for sexual attack or incest. But on Tuesday, voters backed an alterment that would end that prohibit and alter the Missouri constitution to get abortion access.
In Florida, an alterment that would have prohibitned laws recut offeing abortion obtained 57 percent of the vote, descending unwiseinutive of the 60 percent threshancigo in it necessitateed to pass. The state currently prohibits abortion at six weeks of pregnancy, and utilizes other abortion recut offeions.
Meanwhile, Nebraska voters weighed competing ballot meaconfidents on abortion rights, ultimately passing one that uphancigo ins an abortion prohibit after the 12th week of pregnancy. Voters in South Dakota declinecessitate a proposal to get abortion rights, preserving a csurrender-total prohibit there.
