Voters approve abortion-rights measures in 7 states

(NewsNation) — Abortion-rights measures passed in 7 states and have failed in at least 1 thus far, as voters in nearly a dozen states were asked to decide whether reproductive rights should be guaranteed. 

A record 10 states had abortion rights measures on their ballots this year in response to restrictions and bans on reproductive rights across the country. 

Abortion measures on state ballots

Arizona, Colorado, Maryland, Missouri, Montana,  Nevada and New York approved the abortion rights measures, NewsNation/Decision Desk HQ has projected. Florida voters are projected to reject an abortion access measure, leaving the state’s bans intact.

The measure passed in Missouri with support from more than 74% of voters, according to Decision Desk HQ. The state will now have a constitutional amendment protecting abortion until fetal viability, with the exception when a health care professional determines it’s necessary to protect the life or physical or mental health of the pregnant woman.

States that voted on ballot measures to provide abortion access. (Green: Approved, Red: Rejected)

Voters in Nebraska approved a ballot measure limiting abortion to the first trimester. Nebraska’s competing measure to solidify abortion access appeared to fail with more than 95% of the vote counted.

Fifty-eight percent of voters in South Dakota voted “no” to abortion rights being added to the state constitution, with 95% of votes in, according to NewsNation/Decision Desk HQ. Once called, the state would preserve a near-total ban there.

Most measures gave voters a choice to solidify the right to abortion in state constitutions. All but two of the measures were citizen-led, meaning they were written by citizen groups and placed on ballots after getting enough signatures. 

Trump and abortion rights

Several of the states that passed measures also voted for President-elect Donald Trump, indicating a disconnect between voters’ values on a central issue and those of their preferred party. Alternatively, protecting abortion access may be a comfort to voters who support Trump but aren’t clear on his views about abortion.

The U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, launching a national push to have voters decide abortion laws at the state level. 

Since then, a number of states have tackled the issue, with the last big wave of ballot measures taking place in 2022 when six states put abortion to a vote. 

A June Gallup poll revealed a record-high 32% of America’s voters would only vote a candidate into a major office if their opinions on abortion aligned, up 8 points from 2020. The number of U.S. voters who advocate for abortion rights is holding historically high at 54%.

That percentage hit a fever pitch after the Roe ruling, and since then, the percentage of those supporting the right to an abortion has never dropped back below 50%, according to the poll.

Abortion legal battles

The efforts were an uphill battle for many states where reproductive rights advocates faced legal fights in courts brought by anti-abortion groups seeking to remove measures from ballots. 

Abortion rights activists and Women’s March leaders protest as part of a national day of strike actions outside the Supreme Court, Monday, June 24, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

In Arizona, anti-abortion groups sought to block the measure from getting on the state’s ballot by legally challenging a handful of words that were left out of the description and argued the “primary thrust” of the amendment was a “wholesale dismantling of existing law related to abortion in Arizona.” 

Their lawsuit was dismissed by a judge who said there’s no legal reason to prevent it from being considered by voters, reported the Arizona Mirror. 

The measure passed with 61% approval.

Legal battles are expected for the approved measures, and some anti-abortion groups say they will continue to fight against the laws.

“These ballot initiatives are vague and undefined,” Kristi Hamrick, vice president of media and policy at Students for Life, told The Washington Post. The vagueness, she added, opens the door for legislation more tightly regulating medication abortion.

Abortion’s importance to the election

Like in 2022, abortion continued to be a motivating factor for a notable share of voters in 2024, according to nonprofit KFF.

About 4 in 10 voters said abortion had a major impact on their decision about whether to turn out, and over half said it had a major impact on which candidates they supported, the group found.

Abortion was a major issue central to driving voters to the polls in the 2022 midterm elections, according to research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. In polling leading up to Election Day, abortion had surpassed inflation to be the top issue in the presidential election for young women. 

Abortion-rights ballot measure supporters across the country raised nearly eight times as much money as groups campaigning against the amendments on ballots across the country.

“This shows overwhelmingly that voters believe in abortion access, and it disputes all the misinformation and disinformation that we’ve been hearing about abortion access and belief that people do not care about it,” Christian F. Nunes, the president of the National Organization for Women, which advocates for women’s rights, told NewsNation prior to Election Day. 

Missouri reverses abortion ban

Under current Missouri law, abortion is nearly completely banned, with exceptions for medical emergencies, making the state one of the most strict in the country.

Under the newly passed amendment, the state will now guarantee people’s right to make decisions about their reproductive health, such as whether to get an abortion, take birth control or get in vitro fertilization.

“Tonight, through the sheer will and power of the people, Missouri becomes the first state to end a total abortion ban at the ballot box,” Mallory Schwarz, Abortion Action Missouri executive director, said in a statement after the vote.

Planned Parenthood affiliates that operate in Missouri filed in a state court Wednesday seeking to invalidate the state’s abortion ban and several laws that regulate the care.

The Missouri amendment, which is to take effect Dec. 5, does not specifically override any state laws. Instead, the measure left it to advocates to ask courts to knock down bans that they believe would now be unconstitutional.

Mike Kehoe, the governor-elect of Missouri, vowed to continue fighting the law.

“Well we’re going to have to work with our legislators to find out what are any other options to protect innocent life, you’re right once it’s in the constitution it’s not an option, so we’ll have to look to what all the avenues are available,” Kehoe said, reported WDAF-TV.

“Life supporters will not sit back and watch as Big Abortion works to dismantle all the health and safety protections put in place to protect women and babies,” Missouri Stands with Women spokesperson Stephanie Bell said in a statement.

Nebraska’s competing abortion ballot measures

Nebraska gave voters two competing measures on abortion rights, where one asks voters to enshrine the right to an abortion until fetal viability or later to protect the health of the pregnant woman in the state constitution. 

The other sought to amend the state constitution to keep the current 12-week ban, with exceptions for rape, incest and to save the life of the pregnant woman.

With 92% of votes in, NewsNation/Decision Desk HQ projects voters have approved Initiative 434, which prohibits abortion after the first trimester and keeps the state’s current law.

The race had not been called for the measure solidifying rights, but 51% of voters have voted against it so far.

Several lawsuits were filed in an effort to block one or both of the initiatives, but the Nebraska Supreme Court ruled that both measures could appear on the ballot because each side had enough signatures. 

Florida votes no on abortion access ballot question

In Florida, voters had the opportunity to amend the state constitution to protect the right to abortion until fetal viability or when necessary to protect the pregnant person’s health.  

The measure garnered support from 57% of voters, falling just short of the 60% it needed to pass, according to DDHQ totals. The state’s six-week abortion ban will continue to be in place. 

Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and other GOP leaders had repeatedly tapped into taxpayer-funded resources to fight the ballot initiative, according to Politico reporting. 

State police in Florida also allegedly visited the homes of voters who signed a petition to get an abortion-rights amendment on the ballot as part of a state probe into alleged petition fraud. 

The Associated Press contributed to this story.