Abortion Won Almost Everywhere. Here’s Where It Lost
In the years since the federal right to abortion was struck down by the Supreme Court’s conservative majority in 2022, no measure seeking to protect abortion (or to reject new restrictions) had ever lost at the ballot box. That winning streak ended on Tuesday, as Amendment 4, which would have enshrined the right to access abortion in Florida, and ensure access across the South, fell just short of its 60 percent threshold. For now, Florida’s six-week abortion ban will remain in effect.
A similar effort in South Dakota was overwhelmingly rejected by voters: Almost 60 percent voted against a proposal to recognize a statewide right to abortion. There is currently a total ban on abortion in effect in the state. And in Nebraska, where dueling measures were placed on the ballot — one to restore the right to abortion, and one that would maintain the current 12-week ban — voters chose to keep their current ban in place.
In the seven other states where abortion was on the ballot, though, voters extended protections for care. The outcomes of those races will have enormous consequences for millions of women who live in those states and neighboring ones, including Missouri, where voters overturned a total ban on abortion.
Arizona
What does the ballot measure propose? Proposition 139 would amend the state constitution to recognize Arizonans have a fundamental right to abortion before fetal viability. After viability, the law would protect abortions “to protect the life or health” of the pregnant person. The amendment would also prohibit laws seeking to punish anyone assisting another person obtaining an abortion.
What is the law now? Abortion is currently banned in Arizona after 15 weeks. The state mandates a 24-hour waiting period to obtain an abortion, and a medically unnecessary ultrasound, among other restrictions. Earlier this year, the state’s conservative Supreme Court majority allowed an even more restrictive ban — a total ban on abortion passed in 1864 — to go into effect. The Republican-controlled Legislature only repealed the ban — after initially refusing, twice, to consider doing so — under enormous public pressure.
Result: Proposition 139 passed, with 61.7 percent of voters in favor and just 38.3 percent against.
Colorado
What does the ballot measure propose? Amendment 79 would amend the Colorado Constitution to recognize a “right to abortion,” and to prohibit state or local governments from “denying, impeding, or discriminating against the exercise of that right.” It would also allow public insurance plans to offer coverage for abortions.
What is the law now? Abortion is currently legal in Colorado, but there is an existing ban on Medicaid coverage of abortion. Minors are also required to secure their parents’ permission before obtaining an abortion.
Result: Amendment 79 passed, with Colorado voting to protect abortion access via the state constitution and remove a four-decade ban on using government money to pay for abortions. The vote was 60.9 percent in favor when The Associated Press called it.
Florida
What does the ballot measure propose? Amendment 4 proposes adding language to the Florida Constitution to ensure the state cannot “prohibit, penalize, delay, or restrict abortion before viability or when necessary to protect the patient’s health.” The measure also states explicitly that it would do nothing to restrict the state’s authority to require parental notification prior to an abortion.
What is the law now? Florida currently bans abortion at six-weeks gestation, with exceptions for rape, incest, and threats to a pregnant person’s health only until 15 weeks. There are a host of additional restrictions on the books: The state requires in-person counseling, a 24-hour waiting period, and medically unnecessary ultrasound before an abortion. Minors are required to both notify their parents and obtain their permission before terminating a pregnancy. Telemedicine abortion care and the mailing of abortion pills are both banned; the abortion pill can only be dispensed in-person. Only doctors are allowed to perform abortions, and the state has a number of targeted restrictions on abortion providers, or TRAP laws, on the books as well.
Result: Amendment 4 failed, despite receiving support from 57 percent of voters. That’s because ballot measures require 60 percent support to pass in Florida — and also thanks to Gov. Ron DeSantis waging an unprecedented state-sponsored campaign to defeat the measure.
Maryland
What does the ballot measure propose? Question 1 proposes amending the state constitution to guarantee Marylanders reproductive freedom, including “the ability to make and effectuate decisions to prevent, continue, or end one’s own pregnancy.”
What is the law now? Abortion is legal in Maryland up to the point of fetal viability, and after that point if there is a fetal anomaly or if continuing the pregnancy would endanger the pregnant person’s life or health. Minors are required to notify a parent or guardian before an abortion.
Result: Question 1 was approved in a landslide margin by Maryland voters, with more than 70 percent of the state’s electorate voting in favor. The result far exceeded the 50 percent majority needed to pass.
Missouri
What does the ballot measure propose? Amendment 3 proposes amending the Missouri Constitution to recognize a fundamental right to reproductive freedom, including “the right to make and carry out decisions about all matters relating to reproductive health care, including but not limited to prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, birth control, abortion care, miscarriage care, and respectful birthing conditions.” Under the amendment, state lawmakers would be allowed to regulate abortion after the point of viability, but would be prohibited from passing laws that would “deny, delay or restrict” care at any point if the physical or mental health or life of the pregnant person is in jeopardy.
What is the law now? Missouri has one of the most restrictive bans on abortion anywhere in the country. Abortion is banned at all stages of pregnancy, with no exceptions. In place of an exception, the law says anyone who is sued or criminally charged for providing an abortion can offer an “affirmative defense” that the abortion in question was provided because of a “medical emergency” and intervening was necessary to avoid death or substantial and irreversible bodily harm.
Result: Amendment 3 passed, with Missouri voting to enshrine abortion in the state’s constitution, overturning the state’s near-total ban. It won 54 percent to 46 percent when The Associated Press called the race.
Montana
What does the ballot measure propose? The proposal would amend the Montana Constitution to guarantee a right to “make and carry out decisions about one’s own pregnancy, including the right to abortion” through the point of fetal viability. The state would be empowered to regulate abortion after viability, with the exception of abortions necessary “to protect the life or health of the pregnant patient.”
What is the law now? Abortion is currently banned after fetal viability, around 24 to 26 weeks of pregnancy, and Montana has a parental-notification law on the books.
Result: Voters approved Amendment 128, with more than 57 percent voting in favor of protections.
Nebraska
What does the ballot measure propose? There are dueling measures on the ballot in Nebraska. Initiative 434, backed by anti-abortion groups, would essentially preserve the current abortion ban in the state’s constitution, prohibiting abortions after the first trimester, except in the cases of rape, incest, or a medical emergency. Initiative 439, on the other hand, would amend the Nebraska Constitution to establish a “fundamental right to abortion until fetal viability” and after that point if necessary to protect the life or health of the pregnant person.
What is the law now? Abortion is currently banned after 12 weeks in Nebraska, and there is a 24-hour waiting period in effect. Telemedicine abortion is also banned, and minors are required to obtain their parents’ permission before an abortion, among other restrictions.
Result: Initiative 434, which sought to keep the current ban in place, was approved by 55 percent of voters. Initiative 439, which would have created a constitutional right to access abortion, fell short; 48 percent of voters cast ballots in support of the measure, and 51 percent against.
Nevada
What does the ballot measure propose? Question 6 proposes amending the Nevada Constitution to recognize a right to an abortion through fetal viability, while recognizing the state has authority to regulate abortion after that point, except in cases where a health care provider deems it necessary to “protect the life or health of the pregnant patient.”
What is the law now? Abortion is currently banned in Nevada after 24 weeks.
Result: A commanding majority of voters backed Question 6. The measure passed with more than 63 percent support.
New York
What does the ballot measure propose? Proposal 1, if passed, would amend New York’s equal-protection-of-law amendment to specify that New Yorkers cannot be denied rights based on their sex, “including sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, pregnancy outcomes, and reproductive health care and autonomy.” (The law already protects against discrimination based on “race, color, creed or religion.”)
What is the law now? Abortion is currently banned in New York at 24 weeks gestation or the point of fetal viability.
Result: Proposal 1 was approved by voters by a wide margin, with more than two-thirds of the New York electorate voting in favor.
South Dakota
What does the ballot measure propose? Amendment G would prohibit the state government from regulating abortion in the first trimester of pregnancy, allow regulations “reasonably related to the physical health of the pregnant woman” in the second trimester, and regulate or ban abortion in the third trimester, except when necessary “to preserve the life and health of the pregnant woman.”
What is the law now? Abortion is currently banned in South Dakota at all stages of pregnancy. There is a single exception: if an abortion is necessary to save the life of a pregnant person.
Result: Amendment G was defeated, with almost 60 percent of voters casting ballots against the proposal.
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