Voters on Tuesday approved referendums expanding abortion rights in most US states, while Florida, Nebraska and South Dakota rejected such measures, giving anti-abortion advocates their first victory since the US Supreme Court. The constitutional right to due process was abolished in 2022. ,
Edison Research estimated Tuesday that a proposal to amend Florida’s state constitution to guarantee abortion rights fell short of the 60% vote threshold needed to pass.
In Nebraska, voters faced two opposing ballot measures. The Associated Press estimated that he approved the state’s existing 12-week ban with exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother. He also rejected a measure that would have added the right to access abortion to the state constitution, the AP estimated.
The Associated Press estimated that South Dakota voters rejected a proposed amendment that would have guaranteed abortion rights in the state constitution. With a few exceptions, abortion is currently banned in South Dakota.
Edison projected that abortion rights measures would pass in Arizona, Missouri, Nevada, Colorado, New York, Maryland, and Montana.
The Missouri ballot measure was a notable victory, marking the first time that voters in a state that enacted a full abortion ban approved a constitutional amendment that would guarantee abortion rights through fetal viability. Passage of the measure would not automatically overturn the state’s ban, but abortion rights advocates now hope they will win the legal battle to restore abortion rights within months.
Before Tuesday, seven states had put the issue of abortion rights directly before voters following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision. Abortion rights campaigns won all of those elections.
Edison Research said the Florida measure was approved by 57% of voters, with 95% of votes counted. Since it failed to meet the 60% threshold, the ban on abortion after the sixth week of pregnancy, which came into effect in May, will remain in place.
Florida’s ban has some exceptions after the sixth week.
Anti-abortion attorney Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, called the Florida result “a significant victory.” His group also celebrated the results in Nebraska and South Dakota and thanked politicians like South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem and Nebraska Governor Jim Pilen.
Anna Hochkammer, director of the Florida Women’s Freedom Coalition, which supported that state’s measure, said 57% still represents the majority of voters.
“The fight continues as Florida’s women and girls continue to suffer,” she said.
US Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee, sought to drum up support for Tuesday’s ballot measure, which proposes amending the state constitution to enshrine the right to abortion.
Democrats have blamed the Republican Party led by former President Donald Trump for the abortion ban, which has led to several moves to repeal it. More than a dozen states banned abortion in all or most cases after the Trump-appointed Supreme Court, with its conservative majority, gutted the federal right to abortion.
Trump, a Florida resident, has said he would vote against the ballot measure, after it initially appeared he would vote in favor.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
