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Grace Panetta
Originally published by The 19th
Ten states across the country could enshrine the right to abortion in their state constitutions this year.
Seven states have directly voted on abortion since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022 — and abortion rights advocates are so far undefeated with ballot measures. The most recent win came in November when Ohio became the latest state to vote to enshrine abortion rights in its constitution.
The proposed amendments have the potential to reshape abortion access around the country and mobilize voters. Abortion rights ballot measures outperformed Democrats on the ballot in California, Michigan and Vermont in the 2022 midterms.
Currently, 23 states enable citizens to put constitutional amendments on the ballot, while others only allow a state legislature to put them before the voters. While not all ballot measures are necessarily constitutional amendments, most of the efforts in 2024 are behind reshaping state constitutions to enshrine reproductive rights.
Ballot measure campaigns are highly expensive, time-consuming endeavors. In many states, Republican officials have endeavored to keep abortion measures off the ballot with legal challenges, shape the measures’ summary language and inflate their estimated cost.
In one case, they succeeded at stopping a measure from going in front of voters: Organizers in Arkansas submitted more signatures than required to put abortion rights on the ballot but lost a legal battle with the secretary of state’s office. The measure will not appear on the November ballot.
Here’s an overview of where abortion will — and could be — directly on the ballot in 2024 and the challenges advocates are facing in the states.
Arizona
Arizona’s ballot measure, Proposition 139, would protect abortion rights up to the point of fetal viability.
Arizona for Abortion Access, a coalition of reproductive rights groups, submitted over 820,000 signatures to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot that would guarantee a right to abortion. More than one in five registered voters in Arizona signed petitions to get the measure on the ballot, the group said.
Colorado
Coloradans are voting on a proposed constitutional amendment that would repeal the state’s ban on public funding for abortions, which bars state employees or residents on Medicaid from having abortions covered by insurance. It’s on the ballot as Amendment 79.
Constitutional amendments require a 55 percent supermajority to pass in Colorado.
Florida
Floridians are voting on Amendment 4, a constitutional amendment that would guarantee a right to abortion up until the point of fetal viability. For years, Florida was a critical access point for abortion as its neighboring states have heavily restricted or banned the procedure, but a six-week ban put in place in May changed that dynamic..
Constitutional amendments require a 60 percent supermajority to pass in Florida.
Maryland
Maryland voters are voting on a constitutional amendment put on the ballot by the Democrat-controlled legislature that would enshrine a broad right to abortion and other reproductive rights. It’s on the ballot as Question 1.
Missouri
Missourians are voting on a measure that would restore access to abortion, a proposed amendment that would establish a constitutional right to abortion to the point of fetal viability and to other forms of reproductive health care, including contraception access and miscarriage care. It’s on the ballot as Amendment 3.
Montana
Montanans are voting on CI-128, a ballot measure that would protect abortion up until the point of fetal viability, codifying current law in this red state.
Nebraska
Nebraskans are voting on two competing abortion ballot measures in 2024.
Initiative 439, the measure backed by Protect Our Rights coalition, would guarantee a constitutional right to abortion up to the point of fetal viability. The other amendment, Initiative 434, backed by anti-abortion groups, would ban most abortions after about 12 weeks of pregnancy with exceptions for threats to the life of the pregnant patient, rape and incest — similar to current law.
The measure that gains the most votes will pass.
Nevada
Nevadans are voting on Question 6, a ballot measure that would establish a constitutional right to abortion up to 24 weeks of pregnancy. It’s the limit that lawmakers codified in the 1990s, but an amendment would have been harder to repeal.
Proposed constitutional amendments must pass in two consecutive election cycles in Nevada. If the measure passes in 2024, it will go before voters again in 2026.
New York
New Yorkers are voting on a broad equal rights amendment that would ban a range of discrimination and establish a right to abortion and other reproductive health care in the state constitution. The measure, on the ballot as Proposition 1, has been passed twice by the legislature.
South Dakota
South Dakota was the first U.S. state to establish a citizen-led ballot initiative process, in 1898. Now citizens are voting on Constitutional Amendment G, which would guarantee a right to abortion in the first trimester. It would allow the state to regulate abortion only in ways “reasonably related to the physical health of the pregnant woman” in the second trimester.
Major reproductive rights organizations including the ACLU and the regional Planned Parenthood affiliate groups aren’t supporting the proposal, arguing the measure doesn’t go far enough and that Dakotans for Health rushed drafting and submitting the language.
Where abortion has won on the ballot since 2022
California
California voted to enshrine a right to abortion and contraception in its state constitution in 2022. The measure passed with 67 percent of the vote; Biden won the state by 29 points in 2020.
Michigan
Michigan established a constitutional right to abortion and other reproductive health care, including contraception, miscarriage care, fertility treatment, and pre- and post-natal care in 2022. The measure passed with 57 percent of the vote; Biden won the state by three points in 2020.
Ohio
Ohio voted to protect a right to abortion up until the point of fetal viability as well as contraception, miscarriage care and fertility treatment in its state constitution in 2023. The measure passed with 57 percent of the vote; Trump won the state by eight points in 2020.
Vermont
Vermont voted to add a right to “personal reproductive autonomy,” including abortion, in its state constitution in 2022. The measure passed with 77 percent of the vote; Biden won by 35 points in 2020.
