Pro-abortion activists this year advanced ballot initiatives in ten states to enshrine a “right” to abortion throughout all nine months of pregnancy. The measures passed in seven states and were rejected in three.
Individual states have become the new battleground for pro-abortion activists following the rollback of Roe v. Wade by the U.S. Supreme Court in June, 2022. Prior to the 2024 election, four states had enshrined a “right” to abortion in their state constitutions. This year, voters from Arizona to Florida cast their votes on whether or not to support amendments enshrining a “right to abortion” in their state constitutions. The initiatives uniformly used vague, overly broad language that will effectively legalize abortion up to birth and do away with any meaningful abortion limits.
On Tuesday night, voters approved the ballot initiatives in seven states (five of which already had extreme pro-abortion laws). But pro-life advocates scored wins in three states: Florida, Nebraska, and South Dakota, where voters rejected the pro-abortion proposals. In Nebraska, voters even approved a competing proposal limiting abortions.
Arizona (Passed)
Proposition 139, or the “Right to Abortion Initiative,” will make abortion a “fundamental right,” barring voters from making any laws protecting the unborn prior to viability (usually around 23–24 weeks gestation) without “a compelling state interest.”
- The amendment will also allow for abortions throughout all nine months of pregnancy if, in “the good-faith judgment of a treating health care professional… an abortion is necessary to protect the life or health of the pregnant individual.”
- Pro-life advocates point out that “health” exceptions are too broad and subjective, and effectively create a total right to abortion up to the moment of birth.
- Arizona currently limits abortions after 15 weeks gestation.
Colorado (Passed)
Amendment 79, or the “Right to Abortion and Health Insurance Coverage Initiative,” will create a blanket “right to abortion” throughout all nine months of pregnancy.
- The new language will state that “[t]he right to abortion is hereby recognized. Government shall not deny, impede, or discriminate against the exercise of that right, including prohibiting health insurance coverage for abortion.”
- Abortion is already legal in Colorado for any reason up to the moment of birth. The Boulder Abortion Clinic is a notorious abortion facility that openly advertises late term abortions.
Florida (Rejected)
Amendment 4, or the “Right to Abortion Initiative,” would have legalized abortion without limit “before viability or when necessary to protect the patient’s health, as determined by the patient’s healthcare provider.”
- Pro-life advocates note that the language of the amendment would have authorized abortion throughout all nine months of pregnancy, and made Florida an abortion destination for women in the southern states – many of which also have strong pro-life laws.
- Florida law would have required a 60% supermajority to pass the constitutional amendment, and the state’s pro-life Republican governor Ron DeSantis came out vocally against the proposal.
- On November 5, Florida became the first state to defeat a pro-abortion ballot initiative.
Maryland (Passed)
Question 1, or the “Maryland Right to Reproductive Freedom Amendment,” will add language creating a catch-all “right to reproductive freedom,” including “the ability to make and effectuate decisions to prevent, continue, or end one’s own pregnancy.”
- Abortion is already legal up to viability in Maryland, and up to birth if a woman’s life or health is deemed to be in jeopardy or in cases of fetal disabilities.
Missouri (Passed)
Amendment 3, or the “Right to Reproductive Freedom Initiative,” will enshrine a “right to make and carry out decisions about all matters relating to reproductive health care, including but not limited to prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, birth control, abortion care, miscarriage care, and respectful birthing conditions.”
- Since 2022, Missouri law has protected the unborn throughout pregnancy with exceptions for serious risks to the mother’s life or health. That law will now be superseded by the pro-abortion amendment.
Montana (Passed)
CI-128, or the “Right to Abortion Initiative” will create “a right to make and carry out decisions about one’s own pregnancy, including the right to abortion” up until “viability.”
- After viability, abortions will now be permitted “to protect the life or health of the pregnant patient,” with the Montana measure employing the same broad language that would result in the effective legalization of abortion up to birth.
- Abortion is already legal in Montana up to viability.
Nebraska (Rejected/Approved)
There were competing abortion-related measures on the ballot in Nebraska this year.
- Initiative 439, or the “Right to Abortion Initiative,” would have enshrined a “fundamental right to abortion” in the state constitution “until fetal viability, or when needed to protect the life or health of the pregnant patient.”
- Voters rejected the pro-abortion proposal.
- Initiative 434, or “Prohibit Abortions After the First Trimester Amendment,” will add language to the state constitution guaranteeing that “unborn children shall be protected from abortion in the second and third trimesters” with exceptions for rape, incest, or medical emergency.
- Voters approved the pro-life proposal.
- Abortion is currently legal in Nebraska through the first 12 weeks after fertilization.
Nevada (Passed)
Question 6, or the “Right to Abortion Initiative,” will create “a fundamental right to abortion performed or administered by a qualified health care practitioner until fetal viability, or when needed to protect the life or health of the pregnant patient, without interference from the state or its political subdivisions.”
- Abortion is currently legal in Nevada through 24 weeks gestation.
New York (Passed)
Proposal 1, or the “Equal Protection of Law Amendment,” will amend the New York state constitution to add “sex, including sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, pregnancy outcomes, and reproductive healthcare and autonomy,” to the list of criteria to be shielded from “discrimination” under the law.
- The measure will effectively legalize abortion up to the moment of birth.
- Abortion is currently legal in New York through 24 weeks gestation.
- The language of New York’s proposal closely resembles that of an initiative advanced by pro-abortion activists in Oregon.
- The Oregon proposal would amend Section 46, Article I of Oregon’s constitution to prohibit “discrimination” on the basis of “pregnancy, pregnancy outcomes and related health decisions…” Read more about the Oregon ballot initiative here.
South Dakota (Rejected)
Amendment G, or the “Right to Abortion Initiative,” would have prohibited first trimester abortion limits, restricted the state’s ability to limit abortions in the second trimester, and only allowed the state to limit third trimester abortions “except when abortion is necessary, in the medical judgment of the woman’s physician, to preserve the life and health of the pregnant woman.”
- Though framed differently, the measure contained the same vague “health” language of other ballot initiatives, effectively permitting abortion up until the moment of birth.
- Abortion is currently illegal throughout pregnancy in South Dakota with an exception for the life of the mother.
- Voters rejected the pro-abortion proposal.
Oregon Right to Life believes in the sanctity of all human life from the moment of conception to natural death. Abortion ends the life of a genetically distinct, growing human being. We oppose abortion at any point of gestation. In rare cases, a mother may have a life threatening condition in which medical procedures intended to treat the condition of the mother may result in the unintended death of her preborn baby. At the same time, ORTL recognizes that modern medical practice has and will continue to increase the ability to save both the life of the mother and the baby.
Additional Resources:
2024 Abortion Ballot Information
The Pro-Life Reply to: “Is Abortion Ever Medically Necessary?”
