Abortion rights ballot measures pass in 7 states, fail in 3 others
Constitutional amendments to protect or expand abortion passed in seven of the 10 states where they appeared on the ballot Tuesday, NBC News projects.
Constitutional amendments to protect or expand abortion passed in seven of the 10 states where they appeared on the ballot Tuesday, NBC News projects.
Voters in Arizona and Missouri approved ballot initiatives that will effectively protect abortion rights until fetal viability and undo existing abortion laws on the books. But voters in Florida, Nebraska and South Dakota rejected proposed amendments that would have done the same — becoming the first pro-abortion-rights ballot measures to fail since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022.
Meanwhile, voters in Maryland, Montana, Nevada and New York (where abortion is already legal through fetal viability) and in Colorado (where there are no laws restricting abortion and no gestational limits for women seeking abortions), passed measures that will formally enshrine those existing rights. Organizers have said the amendments are designed to prevent lawmakers from undoing existing protections in the future.
In Nebraska, two dueling abortion-related measures were on the general election ballot. The one voters approved will protect abortion rights in the first trimester while barring the procedure in the second and third trimesters, except in medical emergencies or when pregnancies are the result of sexual assaults or incest. Passage effectively codifies the state’s existing law banning abortion after 12 weeks of pregnancy, with some exceptions, in the state constitution.
The other amendment, that would have enshrined abortion rights until fetal viability in the conservative state’s constitution, was rejected.
Rating: 5