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Journalism of Courage
Written by Geoff Mulvihill and Kimberlee Kruesi
Election officials in Arizona and Missouri this week announced that abortion-rights supporters in their states had gathered enough petition signatures to put proposed amendments enshrining abortion rights into their states’ constitutions, bringing to seven the number of states with abortion votes set for November.
The U.S. Supreme Court removed the nationwide right to abortion with a 2022 ruling, which sparked a national push to have voters decide.
Since the decision, most Republican-controlled states have passed abortion restrictions, including 14 that ban it at every stage of pregnancy. Most Democratic-led states have laws or executive orders to protect access.
Voters in all seven states that have had abortion questions before voters since 2022 — California, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Montana, Ohio and Vermont — have sided with abortion rights supporters.
MISSOURI
Missouri voters will decide whether to guarantee a right to abortion with a constitutional amendment that would reverse the state’s near-total ban.
An initiative petition received more than enough signatures from registered voters to qualify for the general election. It will need approval from a majority of voters to become enshrined in the state constitution.
The Missouri ballot measure would create a right to abortion until a fetus could likely survive outside the womb without extraordinary medical measures, generally considered around 23 or 24 weeks into pregnancy. The ballot measure would allow abortions after fetal viability if a health care professional determines it necessary to protect the life or physical or mental health of the pregnant woman.
ARIZONA
Voters in Arizona will decide in November whether to amend the state constitution to add the right to an abortion up to about 24 weeks into pregnancy. The Arizona secretary of state’s office said Monday that it had certified enough signatures to put the measure on the ballot.
Under the proposed amendment, the state would not be able to ban abortion until the fetus is viable, with later abortions allowed to protect a woman’s physical or mental health.
Abortion is currently legal for the first 15 weeks of pregnancy in Arizona.
COLORADO
Colorado’s top election official confirmed in May that a measure to enshrine abortion protections in the state constitution, along with requirements that Medicaid and private health insurers cover abortion, made the ballot for the fall election.
Supporters said they gathered nearly double the required number of signatures needed.
Amending the state constitution requires the support of 55% of voters.
Abortion is already legal at all stages of pregnancy in Colorado.
FLORIDA
The state Supreme Court ruled in April that a measure to legalize abortion until viability could go on the ballot despite a legal challenge from the state.
To pass, the measure needs support from at least 60% of voters, a high threshold that supporters say they are hopeful of reaching after collecting nearly a million signatures on the petition to get it on the ballot.
Abortion is currently illegal in Florida after the first six weeks of pregnancy under a law that took effect May 1.
MARYLAND
Maryland voters also will be asked this year to enshrine the right to abortion in the state’s constitution. Abortion is already allowed in Maryland until viability.
NEVADA
The Nevada Secretary of State’s office announced in June that a ballot question to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution has met all of the requirements to appear in front of voters in November.
Under the amendment, abortion access for the first 24 weeks of pregnancy — or later to protect the health of the pregnant person — would be protected. To change the constitution, voters would need to approve it in both 2024 and 2026.
Abortion up until viability is already allowed in the state under a law passed in 1990.
SOUTH DAKOTA
South Dakota voters will decide this fall on a constitutional amendment that would ban any restrictions on abortion in the first trimester of pregnancy. The measure would allow the state in the second trimester to “regulate the pregnant woman’s abortion decision and its effectuation only in ways that are reasonably related to the physical health of the pregnant woman.” An abortion ban would be allowed in the third trimester, as long as it included exceptions for the life and health of the woman. Opponents have sued to try to take the initiative off the ballot.
While not explicitly preserving a right to abortion, a reproductive rights question is on the ballot in New York. The measure would bar discrimination based on “pregnancy outcomes” and “reproductive healthcare,” along with sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin and disability. Abortion is currently allowed in New York until fetal viability.
MONTANA
Abortion rights proponents in Montana have proposed a constitutional amendment that would bar the government from denying the right to abortion before viability or when it is necessary to protect the life or health of the pregnant person.
After a legal battle over the ballot language, the Montana Supreme Court in April wrote its version of the language that would appear on the ballot if enough valid signatures are certified. Sponsors were required to submit about 60,000 signatures by June 21. They turned in nearly twice that many — about 117,000 — and backers have said counties have validated more than enough signatures. The secretary of state has until Aug. 22 to finalize the November ballot.
Abortion is already legal until viability in the state under a 1999 Montana Supreme Court opinion.
NEBRASKA
Supporters of competing abortion measures each said they turned in far more signatures than the 123,000 required for ballot access, with the winning measure becoming part of the state constitution.
