Americans in 10 US states voted on Tuesday on whether to enshrine the right to abortion into their state constitutions.
In a major victory, Missouri voted to amend its state constitution to protect abortion rights – a move that sets the state up to become the first since the fall of Roe v Wade to overturn its near-total abortion ban.
So too did voters in the swing state of Arizona, which approved a ballot measure that would establish a fundamental right to abortion and prohibit the state from restricting or banning abortion before 24 weeks – a victory for activists who sought to expand access beyond 15 weeks.
Similar decisions in Montana – which enshrined a 1999 state supreme court ruling that said the constitutional right to privacy protects the right to a pre-viability abortion by a provider of the patient’s choice – and in Nevada, a presidential battleground state, added to the list of major wins for abortion rights supporters.
Colorado, New York and Maryland also all passed measures to amend their state constitutions to protect abortion rights and cement the blue states’ status as abortion havens.
However, in Florida, an effort to roll back a six-week ban fell short, as did to expands protections in Nebraska and North Dakota.
Before Tuesday, seven states had held abortion-related ballot referendums, and abortion rights supporters won all of them before Florida broke their streak. The results of Tuesday’s measures will not be the final word; states that vote to overturn bans will see litigation or legislation before those bans are repealed. Donald Trump’s return to the White House will also significantly shape the future of abortion access in the United States.
The final vote counts are still processing, updated as of 6pm ET on 7 November.
Arizona
In a major victory for abortion rights supporters in Arizona, a key battleground state in the presidential election, voters approved their ballot measure to establish a fundamental right to abortion and prohibit the state from restricting or banning abortion before fetal viability, or about 24 weeks, in the state constitution. Abortion is currently banned in the state after 15 weeks.
Colorado
Colorado voters passed a measure to amend the state constitution to block the state government from denying, impeding or discriminating against individuals’ “right to abortion”. The amendment also repeals a provision in the state constitution that bans public funding for abortions. There is currently no gestational limit on the right to abortion in the state.
Florida
Florida shattered a string of success. A measure to roll back the state’s six-week ban by adding the right to an abortion up until viability to the state’s constitution had amassed a clear majority, 57% of the vote, at the time it was called by the Associated Press. However, it needed 60% to pass, the highest threshold of any of the ballots.
Maryland
Voters in Maryland approved a measure to amend the state constitution to confirm individuals’ “right to reproductive freedom, including but not limited to the ability to make and effectuate decisions to prevent, continue, or end the individual’s pregnancy”. There is currently no gestational limit on the right to abortion in the state.
Missouri
Voters decided to overturn the state’s current, near-total abortion ban and establish a constitutional guarantee to the “fundamental right to reproductive freedom”, including abortion care until fetal viability.
Montana
Abortion in Montana is currently legal, following a 1999 state supreme court ruling – and voters chose to amend the state constitution to explicitly include “a right to make and carry out decisions about one’s own pregnancy”. That includes the right to abortion up until fetal viability, or after viability to protect a patient’s life or health. Though there’s no defined time frame, doctors say viability is sometime around 24 weeks.
Nebraska
Nebraska was the lone state with two competing ballot measures.
The first, which did not pass, would have enshrined the right to abortion up until viability into the state constitution.
The second one, which passed, will enshrine the current 12-week ban.
Nevada
Nevada voted to amend its state constitution to protect the right to abortion up until viability, or after viability in cases where a patient’s health or life may be threatened.
Voters must also approve the ballot question in 2026 in order to amend the state constitution. The political action committee Nevadans for Reproductive Freedom organized the ballot initiative and gathered enough signatures to put the question before voters. Although a 1990 state law makes abortion available up to 24 weeks of pregnancy, supporters in Nevada and elsewhere have been pressing to strengthen abortion access after Roe v Wade was overturned.
New York
New York voters approved a measure to broaden the state’s anti-discrimination laws by adding, among other things, protections against discrimination on the basis of “sex, including sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, pregnancy outcomes, and reproductive health”. It does not explicitly reference abortion, but advocates say its pregnancy-related language encompasses abortion protections. Abortion is protected in New York until fetal viability.
South Dakota
South Dakota voters rejected a proposal to add protections for abortion rights to the state constitution. The outcome preserves a state law that makes it a felony to perform an abortion except to save the life of the mother. The ban took effect when the US supreme court overturned Roe v Wade in 2022 and allowed states to outlaw abortion.
South Dakota’s measure was less sweeping than other abortion rights measures, because it would only have protected the right to abortion in the first trimester of pregnancy.
• The Florida graph in this article was amended on 7 November 2024; an earlier version had the Yes and No percentages the wrong way round.
