(NewsNation) — A record number of abortion rights measures will appear on ballots this November, as voters are asked to decide whether reproductive rights should be guaranteed.

Ten states will give voters a choice to include the right to abortion in state constitutions with Nebraska voters facing a contrasting question, as well.

All but two of the measures are citizen-led, meaning they were written by citizen groups and placed on ballots after getting enough signatures. 

“This shows overwhelmingly that voters believe in abortion access, and it disputes all the misinformation and disinformation that we’ve been hearing about abortion access and belief that people do not care about it,” Christian F. Nunes, the president of the National Organization for Women, which advocates for women’s rights, told NewsNation.

“People do care about abortion access,” she said. “Lawmakers writing these oppressive laws were not taking into consideration what the voters really wanted, and were writing for their own sense of power and control, not thinking or even hearing out their constituents so many of them took matters into their own hands.”

The U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, launching a national push to have voters decide. 

Since then, a number of states have tackled the issue, with the last big wave of ballot measures taking place in 2022 when six states put it to a vote. 

Here are all the states with ballot measures on abortion rights: 

Nebraska

Nebraska will be the only state that will give voters two competing measures on abortion rights. 

One of the measures asks voters to enshrine the right to an abortion until fetal viability or later to protect the health of the pregnant woman in the state constitution. 

The other seeks to amend the state constitution to keep the current 12-week ban, with exceptions for rape, incest and to save the life of the pregnant woman.

Several lawsuits were filed in an effort to block one or both of the initiatives, but the Nebraska Supreme Court ruled that both measures can appear on the ballot in November because each side had enough signatures. 

Because there are two competing measures, the winning initiative must pass three bars to come out on top, according to health nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation.

More than 50% of voters must vote in favor of that initiative; at least 35% of the total voters in the election must vote in favor of that initiative; and the initiative must receive a greater number of votes than the competing initiative, the organization stated.

Arizona 

Under citizen-led Proposition 139, Arizona voters will have the ability to amend the state constitution to include the right to an abortion up to about 24 weeks into pregnancy. 

The measure proposes that the state can’t interfere with an abortion before the point of fetal viability unless a health-care professional determines an abortion would harm “the life or physical or mental health of the pregnant individual.” 

Under the current state law, abortions are legal until 15 weeks of pregnancy. This would stand if voters reject Proposition 139. 

Arizona’s election is going to be intesnively studied because abortion is on the ballot, Samara Klar, a professor at the University of Arizona School of Government and Public Policy, told NewsNation.

“Abortion is an issue that typically — and I think very clearly in Arizona — helped Democratic candidates,” she said. “Not many Arizonans support a ban.”

“An abortion ban is really unpopular in Arizona,” she said, adding she expects the ballot measure to win “quite easily.”

Colorado

Colorado will have Amendment 79 on its November ballot; the measure would enshrine abortion protections in the state constitution along with requirements that Medicaid and private health insurers cover abortion.

Abortion is already legal at all stages of pregnancy in Colorado, but abortion rights advocates believe this measure will ensure future lawmakers do not repeal that right.  

A competing measure banning abortion did not collect enough signatures to get the initiative on the ballot.

The measure requires the support of 55% of voters to pass.

Montana

Voters will get to decide whether they want the right to an abortion in Montana’s constitution.

The measure would bar the government from denying the right to abortion before viability, generally considered to be about 23 or 24 weeks’ gestational age, or when it is necessary to protect the life or health of the pregnant person. 

Montana’s measure seeks to enshrine a 1999 Montana 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.  

Abortion is already legal until viability in the state under that ruling. 

“Since Roe was overturned, extreme anti-abortion politicians have used every trick in the book to take away our freedoms and ban abortion completely,” Martha Fuller, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Montana, said in a statement. “During that time, we have been working together to put this issue before voters.”

Maryland

Maryland voters will also have a choice on whether to include the right to abortion in the state’s constitution. 

Abortion is already allowed in Maryland until viability.

If passed, the state constitution would have language adding the “fundamental 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.” 

Maryland’s measure is legislatively referred, meaning it was introduced and approved by lawmakers before appearing on the ballot. 

Nevada

Under a citizen-led initiative, Nevada will also include a measure that would enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution. 

This amendment would ensure abortion access for the first 24 weeks of pregnancy with the exception of allowing it later only to protect the health of the pregnant person. 

Nevada would need more than 50% of votes to change the constitution. But if it’s approved, voters would need to approve it again in 2026. 

Abortion until viability is already allowed in Nevada under a law passed in 1990.

“We can’t take anything for granted in a post-Dobbs world and that’s why we are really doubling down on the protections we have in statute currently,” Lindsey Harmon, president of Nevadans for Reproductive Freedom, has said. 

Missouri

Missouri voters will decide whether to guarantee a right to abortion with a constitutional amendment that would reverse the state’s near-total ban.

The secretary of state’s office certified that a citizen-led initiative petition received more than enough signatures from registered voters to qualify. 

The Missouri ballot measure would create a right to abortion only until fetal viability, with the exception when a health care professional determines it’s necessary to protect the life or physical or mental health of the pregnant woman.

The measure also states that the government “shall not deny or infringe upon a person’s fundamental right to reproductive freedom.” 

The state has one of the most strict laws on abortion. That could change if more than 50% of voters approve of the measure. 

Florida

Florida voters will have the opportunity to amend the state constitution to protect the right to abortion until fetal viability or when necessary to protect the pregnant person’s health. 

To pass, the measure needs support from at least 60% of voters, a high threshold that supporters hope to reach after collecting nearly a million signatures on the petition to get it on the ballot.

The state sought to challenge the measure, arguing that there are differing views on the meaning of “viability” and that some key terms in the proposed measure are not properly defined. The arguments eventually did not hold up in the state’s Supreme Court, which decided to allow the measure on the ballot.  

Abortion is banned in Florida after the first six weeks of pregnancy under a law that took effect May 1.

South Dakota

South Dakota voters will decide on a citizen-led ballot measure that would amend the state constitution to establish the right to abortion in the first trimester. 

The measure would allow the state to regulate abortion in the second trimester “only in ways that are reasonably related to the physical health of the pregnant woman.” 

Abortion would be prohibited in the third trimester, provided there are exceptions for the life and health of the woman.

The measure requires more than 50% of the vote to pass.  

The state currently has a near-total ban on abortion. 

New York

A measure on the ballot in New York doesn’t explicitly preserve a right to abortion, but includes it under broader equal rights protections.  

New York’s Proposal 1 would bar unequal treatment based on “pregnancy outcomes” and “reproductive healthcare and autonomy,” along with sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin and disability.

Proponents say it would protect abortion access. Abortion is currently legal in New York up to fetal viability.

The measure, which is legislatively referred, has faced several challenges on its road to the ballot. 

It was on the ballot, then removed in May by a judge who found lawmakers missed a procedural step when they put it there. An appeals court reinstated it in June.

The measure needs more than 50% of votes to pass.

NewsNation’s Jeff Arnold contributed to this story.

Source link