Anti-abortion forces broke the left's post-Roe winning streak, but seven more states enacted protections
Abortion opponents clinched their first victories in ballot measure fights since the fall of on Tuesday night, with Florida, Nebraska and South Dakota upholding bans on the procedure.
The results end a two-year winning streak for abortion-rights groups that had successfully defended reproductive health rights or overturned prohibitions in several purple and red states, including many that voted overwhelmingly for President-elect Donald Trump.
Yet seven states voted Tuesday to restore, preserve or expand the right to terminate a pregnancy, including in conservative strongholds like Missouri and Montana.
Many of the measures won — and in Florida, came close to winning — despite widespread efforts by GOP state officials, Republican-appointed judges and anti-abortion advocacy groups to prevent them from passing or from reaching the ballot, using legislation, lawsuits and public pressure campaigns.
But the losses in GOP-controlled states highlighted the left's struggle to keep voters' focus on the issue as well as the right's evolving strategies to kneecap the ballot measure process. And abortion opponents have vowed to keep fighting initiatives that have already passed, with plans to file legal challenges and, should those fail, pursue additional ballot measures to wind back the clock.
"This won't be the last time Missourians vote on so-called 'reproductive rights,'" said GOP state Sen. Mary Elizabeth Coleman on Wednesday. " I will do everything in my power to ensure that vote happens."
Here are the results remaking the post- landscape:
Toppling abortion bans
Arizona became the first state since the fall of to override a 15-week ban, the policy conservatives have long argued is a "compromise" embraced by a majority of the public. The state's abortion-rights initiative won with the backing of voters across the political spectrum, including conservatives who oppose government intervention in personal health decisions and liberals moved by the stories of patients in Arizona and around the country denied care during obstetric emergencies.
Missouri became the first state since to overturn a near-total ban on the procedure, with a majority of voters backing a measure enshrining abortion rights in the state constitution even as a majority also reelected its staunch anti-abortion Sen. Josh Hawley .
Shoring up access
A slew of states that have become destinations for those traveling from places where the procedure is outlawed voted to codify or expand access to abortion Tuesday night, with measures passing in Colorado, Maryland, Montana, Nevada and New York. Most of these ballot initiatives largely codify existing law — a hedge against future attempts to roll back access. But some, like Colorado's, aim to make abortion more accessible by allowing state Medicaid funding of the procedure.
Falling short
A majority of Floridians backed a ballot measure that would have toppled the state's six-week ban and restored access through fetal viability in a state that had once been an abortion access hub for the entire southeast region. But the state requires ballot measures to win with at least 60 percent support, thwarting the amendment's passage after a race marked by legal battles and an influx of tens of millions of dollars from abortion-rights groups.
Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and other state officials deployed aggressive tactics to defeat the measure, suing and launching investigations targeting its backers and using taxpayers funds to run ads in opposition. Anti-abortion groups said these actions were key to the measure's defeat and called on other governors to adopt them.
"Gov. DeSantis's leadership was critical and points to a successful model other states should look to when facing similar challenges," said Jeanne Mancini, the president of March for Life.
South Dakota voters rejected a ballot initiative, leaving the state's near-total ban in place. National abortion-rights groups that poured tens of millions into other state measures did not support South Dakota's due to disagreements with local advocates over its scope and language, making an uphill battle in the conservative state more difficult. SBA Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser called the state a "beacon" for the anti-abortion movement.
Nebraska was the only state where voters faced two competing abortion initiatives — one to restore access up to fetal viability and the other to uphold the state's current 12-week ban. The latter prevailed, thanks in part to a campaign bankrolled by some of Nebraska's richest residents, including Republican Sen. Pete Ricketts and his family, who donated millions. Abortion-rights advocates had additionally warned that having dueling measures would confuse voters.
