Poli Alert Political & Civics
Related Articles
Grace Panetta
Originally published by The 19th
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. Two blue state legislatures put abortion rights constitutional amendments on their 2024 ballots, while organizers in at least nine other states so far are leading citizen-driven efforts to put similar measures on the ballot.
The proposed amendments have the potential to reshape abortion access around the country and even mobilize voters behind Democrats in critical 2024 battleground states and races. 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.
Passing a ballot measure is a highly expensive, time-consuming endeavor. First, organizers must decide on language for their ballot measure. Next, they must gather tens or hundreds of thousands of signatures to put on the ballot, anticipating legal challenges to the validity of their signatures or the ballot language itself. Successful campaigns require lots of spending and intensive get-out-the-vote efforts, especially in states that require a supermajority for the measure to pass.
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 for Abortion Access, a coalition of reproductive rights groups, is collecting signatures to put a constitutional amendment on the 2024 ballot that would guarantee a right to abortion. The measure would protect abortion rights up to the point of fetal viability, which is determined by physicians but is usually around 22 to 25 weeks of pregnancy.
Arkansas
Arkansans for Limited Government is aiming to reverse the state’s strict abortion ban with a proposed constitutional amendment that would establish a right to abortion through 18 weeks after conception and after that in cases of rape, incest, fatal fetal anomaly or threat to the life of the patient.
Colorado
Both abortion rights and anti-abortion advocates have launched efforts to put constitutional amendments on the ballot. A coalition of reproductive rights groups has drafted language for a proposed amendment that would repeal Colorado’s constitutional ban on public funding for abortions, which currently bars state employees or Coloradoans on Medicaid from having abortions covered by insurance. Two anti-abortion activists have also filed draft language for a proposed ballot measure that would make abortion a crime and define life as beginning at fertilization.
Constitutional amendments require a 55 percent supermajority to pass in Colorado.
Florida
Floridians Protecting Freedom is leading the charge to get an amendment on the November 2024 ballot that would guarantee a right to abortion up until the point of fetal viability in Florida’s constitution. For years, Florida has been a critical access point for abortion as its neighboring states have heavily restricted or banned the procedure.
Constitutional amendments require a 60 percent supermajority to pass in Florida, and mobilizing Latinx voters will be critical for the amendment’s success.
Maryland
Maryland voters will be voting on a constitutional amendment put on the ballot by Maryland Democratic-controlled legislature that would enshrine a broad right to abortion and other reproductive rights.
Missouri
Multiple figures in Missouri have put forth proposals that would repeal or loosen Missouri’s strict abortion ban, though they disagree on the best approach. One proposed measure, 11 versions of which have been submitted for consideration, would establish a constitutional right to make decisions on “all matters related to reproductive health care,” including abortion.
Another group led by a former GOP congressional staffer, Jamie Corley, is proposing measures that would add rape and incest exceptions to existing state law and ensure protection against prosecution for patients. Some of their proposals would also legalize abortion up to 12 weeks of pregnancy.
Montana
Montana abortion rights groups are taking steps toward putting an abortion rights constitutional amendment on the 2024 ballot. Planned Parenthood Advocates of Montana is drafting language for a measure that would protect abortion up until the point of fetal viability in the state constitution.
Nebraska
Protect Our Rights, a coalition of advocates in Nebraska, are aiming to put an amendment on the November 2024 ballot guaranteeing a constitutional right to abortion up to the point of fetal viability.
Nevada
Abortion rights advocates want to put a measure on the 2024 ballot that would establish a constitutional right to abortion before the point of fetal viability in Nevada.
Proposed constitutional amendments must pass in two consecutive election cycles in Nevada, meaning if the measure gets on the ballot and passes in 2024, it would go before voters again in 2026.
New York
New Yorkers will be voting on a broad equal rights amendment that would ban a wide range of discrimination and establish a right to abortion and other reproductive health care in the state constitution. The measure has been passed twice by the legislature and will now go to the voters in 2024 for final approval.
South Dakota
South Dakota was the first U.S. state to establish a citizen-led ballot initiative process in 1898. In 2024, the group Dakotans for Health wants to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot that would guarantee a right to abortion in the first trimester and only allow it to regulate abortion in ways “reasonably related to the physical health of the pregnant woman” in the second trimester.
Major reproductive rights organizations, including the regional ACLU and Planned Parenthood affiliates, 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 Dobbs
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 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 it by 35 points in 2020.
