Abortion rights supporters celebrated a handful of victories on Tuesday night, as several states voted to enshrine protections for the procedure into their constitutions.
However, they lost what was arguably their hardest fight, after Florida voters defeated a measure to roll back the state’s six-week abortion ban, breaking a streak of ballot-measure victories kicked off when Roe v Wade was overturned by the US supreme court in 2022. They also fell short in Nebraska, where voters chose to enshrine the state’s existing 12-week ban rather than expand protections for the procedure to 24 weeks.
And they lost in South Dakota, thereby preserving a state law that makes it a felony to perform an abortion except to save the life of the mother.
But abortion rights won in several other states, with Missouri voting to overturn the state’s near-total ban on abortion – a post-Roe first – and establish a constitutional right to abortion until fetal viability. Ballot measures in New York, Colorado and Maryland also passed, expanding their protections for abortion and cementing those states’ status as abortion havens. In Nevada, a ballot measure to enshrine the battleground state’s abortion rights in the state constitution received its first nod of approval, though voters must also approve the ballot question in 2026 in order to amend the state constitution.
Another key presidential swing state, Arizona, approved its ballot measure to establish a fundamental right to abortion and prohibit the state from restricting or banning abortion before 24 weeks – a major win for abortion-rights supporters who sought to expand access beyond 15 weeks.
And Montana voters, too, chose to protect the right to an abortion in their state constitution – enshrining a 1999 Montana supreme court ruling that said the constitutional right to privacy protects the right to a “pre-viability” abortion – though there is no defined time frame, it typically occurs around 24 weeks.
“The people of Missouri – be they Democrat, Republican, or independent – have resoundingly declared that they don’t want politicians involved in their private medical decisions,” said Rachel Sweet, the manager of the campaign of the Missouri ballot measure, in a statement.
A total of 10 states voted on abortion-related ballot initiatives on Tuesday. Results are forthcoming in four more states.
Given that abortion is one of the top issues in the 2024 election, Democrats had hoped these measures would boost turnout among their base and propel Kamala Harris to victory. But polls suggest many voters in effect split their votes by supporting both abortion rights and Donald Trump, whose three supreme court appointments helped end federal protections for the procedure. In recent months, Trump backtracked on his anti-abortion bona fides, but he has repeatedly flip-flopped on the issue and has many allies who would like to see a national ban enacted.
Out of all the abortion-related measures, the Florida initiative – known as amendment 4 – was long considered the most difficult to pass. Unlike other measures, which only require a simple majority – or, in the case of Colorado, 55% of the vote – to pass, the Florida measure needed to garner 60% of the vote. At the time it was called by the Associated Press, the Florida measure had amassed a clear majority, with 57% of the vote.
The Florida result is a bitter pill for abortion rights supporters, shattering a string of successes at the ballot box. Advocates have won abortion-related ballot measures in seven states since Roe was overturned.
After the US supreme court overturned Roe in 2022, Florida became a refuge for people fleeing the abortion bans that now blanket the rest of the US south, before its six-week ban took effect in May of this year.
Had the Florida measure passed on Tuesday, it would have protected the right to abortion up until fetal viability, or about 24 weeks into pregnancy.
In the weeks leading up to election day, Florida Republicans alarmed civil rights and voting rights groups by unleashing a wave of attacks on the measure. Law enforcement officials investigated people who signed a petition to get the measure on to the ballot, while the state’s agency for healthcare administration put up a webpage attacking the amendment. The health department also sent cease-and-desist letters to local TV stations that aired an advertisement supporting the measure, prompting the measure’s organizers to sue.
“Florida’s deadly abortion ban is out of line with the values of our state,” said Lauren Brenzel, manager of the campaign for the amendment, Yes on 4 Florida, in a statement. “Florida voters sent that message loud and clear today, and despite the fact that only a minority of voters voted to retain the abortion ban our extremist government will exploit the situation to deny its own constituents the right to decide on our bodily autonomy.”
Read more of the Guardian’s 2024 US election coverage
