Deadlines are running between now and July 5 in five states as activists try to collect enough voter signatures to put abortion issues on the ballot for the November election.
Four states are already putting measures to enshrine abortion rights in their state constitutions on the ballot, and officials in two more are reviewing whether petitions filed there are valid. In addition, New York’s attorney general is trying to reinstate a question in the law after it was struck down by a court.
The advance continues after the Supreme Court abortion ruling of June 13 On a technicality, he rejected an attempt to revoke federal approval of mifepristone, a medication used for medical abortion. But abortion rights advocates warn against taking too much confidence in the ruling, because it’s possible that a similar lawsuit brought by someone else could succeed.
It is heading towards an election season in which Abortion rights will be a substantial issuedirectly and in the race for candidates for offices at the state and federal level.
The fate of the measures could reshape or confirm trends that have emerged in the nearly two years since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled. the nationwide right to abortion abolished.
Since the court’s 2022 ruling, most Republican-led states have modern abortion restrictions in place, including 14 that ban abortion at any stage of pregnancy. Most Democratic-led states have laws or executive orders to protect abortion access.
Voters in seven states – California, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Montana, Ohio and Vermont – have sided with abortion rights advocates in ballots since 2022.
Some efforts to restrict or ban abortion also failed to make it to a vote.
In Wisconsin, the House of Representatives passed a measure calling on voters to Ban abortion after 14 weeksbut the legislative session ended without a vote in the Senate. Likewise, Iowa lawmakers ended their session without passing a measure asking voters to determine that there is no constitutional right to abortion.
Pennsylvania lawmakers have previously sought a similar amendment, but it is not expected to make it onto the ballot this year. Louisiana Measure to anchor the right to abortion in the state constitution failed in committee, one in Maine practically failed when it did not receive the approval of two-thirds of the House of Representatives and a Minnesota measure was not passed by the legislators.
What’s on the ballot now for 2024?
COLORADO
Colorado’s top election official confirmed in May that a bill to enshrine abortion protections in the state constitution, including requiring that they be covered by Medicaid and private health insurers, was on the ballot for this fall’s election.
Supporters said they had collected more than 225,000 signatures, nearly double the 124,000 signatures required to amend the state constitution, which requires the support of 55% of voters.
Supporters of a competing bill, an abortion ban, have not submitted signatures and the bill will not go to voters.
In Colorado, abortion is legal at any stage of pregnancy.
FLORIDA
The state Supreme Court ruled in April that a ballot proposal to legalize abortion until the fetus is viable could go on the ballot, despite a lawsuit filed by the state’s Attorney General, Ashley Moody, arguing that there are differing views on the meaning of “viability” and that some key terms in the proposed proposal are not properly defined.
The supporters collected almost one million signatures to put an amendment to the state constitution to legalize abortion until it is feasible to vote, exceeding the required number of votes of nearly 892,000.
For the measure to come into force, the approval of 60% of voters is required.
Abortion is currently illegal in Florida after the first six weeks of pregnancy, before many women know they are pregnant. under a law which came into force on 1 May.
MARYLAND
Voters in Maryland Also being asked this year is to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution. The state already protects abortion rights through state law, and Democrats outnumber Republicans 2-to-1. Abortion is legal in Maryland until it is feasible.
SOUTH DAKOTA
The voters of South Dakota will decide this autumn on a measure that would prohibit any restrictions on abortions in the first trimester of pregnancy. It would allow the state to regulate the pregnant woman’s abortion decision and its execution in the second trimester “only in a manner that is reasonably proportionate to the pregnant woman’s physical health.”
A ban on abortion would be permissible in the third trimester as long as it provided for exceptions to protect the life and health of the woman.
The state’s top election official announced on May 16 that about 85% of more than 55,000 signatures submitted in support of the popular initiative are valid and exceed the required 35,017 signatures.
Opponents have until Monday to file an objection with the Secretary of State’s office.
What other issues could be on the ballot in 2024 besides abortion?
ARIZONA
A Signature campaign underway to establish a constitutional right to abortion in Arizona. Under this measure, the state could ban abortions only when the fetus is viable. Later abortions would be permitted to protect the physical or mental health of the woman. Supporters must collect nearly 384,000 valid signatures by July 4.
In Arizona, abortion is currently legal in the first 15 weeks of pregnancy. An Arizona Supreme Court ruling in April said enforcement of an already existing, nearly total ban could soon begin. The governor has since signed a bill into law. Repeal of this law. However, it is expected to remain in force for some time.
ARKANSAS
Supporters of a change in the law that would allow abortion in many cases must collect nearly 91,000 signatures by July 5 to put the law on the November 5 ballot.
The measure would ban laws that prohibit abortions in the first 20 weeks of pregnancy and allow abortions later in pregnancy in cases of rape, incest, threats to the woman’s health or life, or when the fetus would likely not survive birth. Because the proposal would ban abortions beginning at 20 weeks of pregnancy, it is not supported by Planned Parenthood Great Plains, which includes Arkansas.
The state currently prohibits abortion at all stages of pregnancy, with few exceptions.
MISSOURI
In Missouri, abortion rights activists submitted more than 380,000 signatures, twice the 171,000 required, to urge voters to approve a constitutional amendment that would guarantee abortion until it is available.
Local election officials have until July 30 to review the signatures. After that, it is up to the Secretary of State to declare whether there are enough signatures.
A group of moderate Republicans has abandoned efforts this year to an alternative amendment This would have allowed abortions up to the twelfth week of pregnancy, with few exceptions thereafter.
In Missouri, abortion is currently prohibited at all stages of pregnancy, with few exceptions.
MONTANA
Abortion rights advocates in Montana have proposed a constitutional amendment that would prohibit the government from denying the right to an abortion before the pregnancy is viable or when it is necessary to protect the life or health of the pregnant person.
After a legal battle over the ballot wording, the Montana Supreme Court in April drafted its version of the wording that would appear on the ballot if supporters collect more than 60,000 signatures by Friday.
According to a 1999 ruling by the Montana Supreme Court, abortion is legal until viability in the state.
NEBRASKA
Lawyers are try to collect About 123,000 signatures are needed by July 5 to put a constitutional amendment to voters that would protect the right to abortion until the fetus is viable.
A competing proposal would add a constitutional amendment that corresponds to a law passed last year that bans abortion after 12 weeksWith some exceptions.
A third attempt to pass a law that would ban abortion throughout pregnancy has been arduous to raise money for and is not expected to gather enough signatures to get on the ballot.
NEVADA
The organizers said in May that they had almost twice as many signatures as necessary to pass an abortion rights measure Nevada’s Choice in November.
The amendment enshrines in the state constitution a right to abortion during the first 24 weeks of pregnancy or thereafter to protect the health of the pregnant woman.
That access is already guaranteed by a 1990 law. More than 102,000 valid signatures are needed to put the bill on the ballot, and organizers said they have submitted more than 200,000. Now county election officials must verify the signatures.
To change the constitution, voters would have to approve it in both 2024 and 2026.
NEW YORK
In May, a judge removed an amendment to the equal treatment principle in the area of ​​reproductive health care from the November vote and ruled that The legislator has missed a procedural step when they put it there.
Attorney General Letitia James said she would appeal the ruling.
The Measure would prevent discrimination based on “pregnancy outcomes” and “reproductive health care,” along with sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, and disability. The language does not explicitly preserve a right to abortion in New York, where it is currently permitted up to viability.
