10 US States Hold Abortion Referendums

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Facts

  • Ten US states held referendum votes on abortion during the 2024 US election on Tuesday, seven of which voted to expand or retain abortion rights while three voted to uphold abortion restrictions.[1][2]
  • Two of the seven pro-choice outcomes were in Missouri, which overturned its previous total ban and codified the right to abortion up to fetal viability, and Arizona, which voted to overturn its previous 15-week ban and protect abortion up to viability.[3]
  • Nebraska saw two opposing measures, including one that would "establish a right to abortion until fetal viability," which failed, while passing the second to uphold its 12-week ban.[4][5][6]
  • New York, Montana, and Nevada voted to expand or uphold their existing abortion rights up until viability, Maryland voted to allow abortion with no gestational limits, and Colorado voted to enshrine abortion rights into the state constitution and repeal its ban on publicly funded abortions.[1][7]
  • The other three were South Dakota, which voted against abortion in the first trimester, Nebraska, which voted to uphold its 12-week ban, and Florida, which rejected a measure to allow abortion until viability.[1][8]
  • The states that required a more than 50% vote were Missouri, New York, Maryland, South Dakota, Arizona, Nevada, and Montana, while Colorado required 55% and Florida required 60%, falling short with a reported 57.1%. Nebraska required a majority of votes in support and at least 35% of total ballots cast for either measure.[1][9]

Sources: [1]WSJ, [2]NPR Online News (a), [3]CNN, [4]New York Post, [5]Ballotpedia, [6]NPR Online News (b), [7]The Guardian, [8]The Print and [9]NBC.

Narratives

  • Republican narrative, as provided by The Federalist and National Review. Florida, South Dakota, and Nebraska have shown a heroic willingness to protect the unborn, and they should be applauded nationwide. Some of these pro-choice measures didn't even use the words "mother" or "women," let alone "baby," which shows what the pro-life movement was up against. Hopefully, more states will be encouraged to follow suit in the fight for life.
  • Democratic narrative, as provided by YouTube and The Intercept. While a few states sadly failed to codify reproductive rights, it's important to recognize the majority of abortion ballots that were successful. Even the red state of Missouri chose to protect women's rights, which shows how much Americans care about this issue. The same would've also occurred in Florida had the Republican-led legislature not required an unreasonable 60% threshold.