Voters in Seven States Pass Measures to Protect Abortion
Abortion-rights ballot measures failed in three other states, including Nebraska, where voters instead amended the constitution to limit abortion access.
Since the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization declared there was no federal constitutional right to an abortion, the availability of abortion has largely become a matter of state law. This year, voters in 10 states considered ballot initiatives that would amend state constitutions to protect abortion. In one state, Nebraska, voters considered competing measures: one that would limit abortion access and one that would expand it.
Measures to protect abortion rights passed in Arizona, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Colorado, and New York. Voters in Nevada also approved an abortion-rights state constitutional amendment, but ballot measures must receive public approval twice in Nevada before becoming law. The same initiative will appear again for final approval on the 2026 ballot.
An abortion-rights amendment failed to receive a majority of the vote in South Dakota. A measure in Florida fell shy of the 60 percent threshold needed there to amend the state constitution. And in Nebraska, voters approved a measure that would prohibit abortion after 12 weeks of pregnancy.
In 2022 and 2023, people in California, Michigan, Ohio, and Vermont voted to amend their constitutions to enshrine abortion rights, while voters in Kansas, Kentucky, and Montana defeated anti-abortion amendments.
In addition to efforts to clarify state abortion rights by amending state constitutions, Dobbs spurred a flurry of new state laws concerning abortion and state constitutional litigation over those laws.
Erin Geiger Smith is a writer and editor at the Brennan Center for Justice.
Kathrina Szymborski Wolfkot is the managing editor of State Court Report and a senior counsel in the Judiciary Program at the Brennan Center for Justice.
Suggested Citation: Erin Geiger Smith & Kathrina Szymborski Wolfkot, Voters in Seven States Pass Measures to Protect Abortion, Sᴛᴀᴛᴇ Cᴏᴜʀᴛ Rᴇᴘᴏʀᴛ (Nov. 6, 2024), https://statecourtreport.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/voters-seven-states-pass-measures-protect-abortion
Related Commentary
Where Abortion Litigation in Georgia Stands
Last year the Georgia Supreme Court rejected one challenge to a six-week abortion ban, but additional state constitutional challenges continue to wind through the lower courts.
Anti-Abortion Strategies Center on 19th Century Federal Law
Activists hope to set up a clash between the Comstock Act and state laws protecting abortion.
Choice of Law in an Era of Abortion Conflict
When a citizen of an anti-abortion state travels to another state to receive the procedure, which state’s law should apply?
In States with Abortion Bans, When Does a Medical Emergency Trigger an Exception?
Doctors have delayed life-saving care out of confusion over exceptions to strict abortion bans. State courts are being asked to clarify the laws.