On Tuesday, voters in several U.S. states passed abortion rights ballot initiatives, codifying reproductive rights protections within their state constitutions.
Abortion rights measures passed in seven of the 10 states where they were included on the ballot, with only three states rejecting such proposals. In one of those three states, Florida, the abortion measure secured majority support, but was blocked because it didn’t reach the supermajority threshold of 60 percent support.
As of Wednesday at 7 am Eastern Time, around 57.1 percent of ballots cast in Florida backed the measure, which would have blocked the state from imposing abortion bans before fetal viability as determined by a physician, generally seen to be around 22 to 25 weeks of pregnancy. Only 42.9 percent voted against the measure.
Although the proposal was ultimately rejected, the results are a clear indication that Florida voters are deeply dissatisfied with the state’s current six-week abortion ban.
The Florida measure likely failed in part because of bullying tactics from state officials representing the administration of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis. Police were sent to harass residents of the state, for example, who had signed petitions in favor of the measure, ostensibly to investigate if their signatures were valid — an action that critics noted constituted voter intimidation.
Despite the measure’s failure to reach the supermajority threshold, Jessica Valenti, a journalist focusing on abortion and reproductive rights, pointed out that the measure was more popular than the governor himself.
“For what it’s worth: Amendment 4 got a million more votes than Ron DeSantis did in 2022,” Valenti wrote.
Abortion rights measures in Nebraska and South Dakota also failed, with a majority of residents in those states rejecting the ballot initiatives. In Nebraska, a separate measure, banning abortion starting from the second trimester onward, passed with voters’ approval.
Despite those setbacks, measures in seven other states did pass, indicating that voters still support abortion rights in most parts of the country, including in some areas that were won by Republicans in this year’s election.
In Colorado, voters approved an initiative that established the right to an abortion in the state constitution. Abortion was already protected in the state, but only through statute. The measure also allows state-funded insurance plans, like Medicaid, to cover the procedure. As of 7 am Eastern Time, and with 72.6 percent of the vote counted, the measure had 61.5 percent of Coloradans supporting it, with only 38.5 percent opposed.
Maryland voters also approved an amendment affirming the right to reproductive freedoms, including the “ability to make and effectuate decisions to prevent, continue, or end one’s own pregnancy.” That measure passed with more than 74 percent of support, per the ballots counted as of Wednesday morning.
In Missouri, voters overturned one of the most restrictive abortion bans in the country on Tuesday evening. Missouri had banned abortion outright, with no exceptions for rape or incest. The ballot measure’s passage will legalize abortion up to the point of fetal viability, and includes exceptions after that point to preserve a pregnant person’s physical and mental health. With 98 percent of the vote in, the measure passed, with 52 percent in favor to 48 percent opposed.
In New York, meanwhile, voters passed an amendment to bar discrimination on a number of fronts. Persons in the state cannot be denied their personal rights based on “ethnicity, national origin, age, and disability,” nor their “sex, including sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, pregnancy outcomes, and reproductive healthcare and autonomy,” according to the amendment.
Abortion is already legal in the state up to 24 weeks of a pregnancy, with the law making exceptions after that time frame to preserve a person’s physical or mental health. The new amendment strengthens those protections.
With 85 percent of the vote counted, 61.5 percent of New York voters ruled in favor of the measure, while only 38.5 percent were opposed to its passage.
In Arizona, where a 19th-century anti-abortion law was briefly enforced before state lawmakers implemented a restrictive 15-week ban, voters also passed a constitutional measure protecting abortion up to the point of fetal viability, with protections afterward to preserve a person’s physical or mental health. As of Wednesday morning, 61.7 percent of voters backed the measure, with only 38.23 percent opposed.
Abortion rights measures in Nevada and Montana passed with overwhelming support from voters.
Reproductive rights proponents lauded the passage of abortion protections in states across the country.
“Tonight, Arizonans proved the power of voting and ensconced a fundamental freedom to abortion care in the state constitution,” read a press release statement from Kelly Hall, Executive Director of the Fairness Project, which backed the measure.
“The people of Arizona were motivated from day one to reclaim our personal freedoms and reject our state’s dangerous abortion ban, and today we did just that,” said Laura Dent, campaign manager of Arizona for Abortion Access, the organization that led the initiative.
Journalist and transgender rights activist Erin Reed lauded the measure that passed in New York.
“Anti-trans campaigners across the state tried to defeat [the measure] by saying it would protect trans people. It passed anyway,” Reed said on X.
Although the passage of these measures was historic, former President Donald Trump’s win in the 2024 election, along with the potential of a Republican-led Congress, makes it possible that further federal restrictions on abortion could come about in the future, with restrictions on other reproductive rights also likely up for consideration.
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