Deadlines are coming up between now and July 5 in five states where advocates are trying to gather enough voters’ signatures to put abortion-related questions on ballots in November’s elections.
Measures that would enshrine the right to abortion in state constitutions are already on the ballot in four states, and officials in two more are checking whether the petitions submitted there are valid. Additionally, New York’s attorney general is trying to get a question reinstated after a court removed it.
The push continues after the Supreme Court’s June 13 abortion ruling denying on technical grounds an effort to roll back the federal approval for mifepristone, a drug used for medication abortions. But abortion rights supporters are cautioning against that ruling instilling too much confidence because it’s possible a similar lawsuit brought by someone else could succeed.
It adds up to an election season in which abortion rights will be a major issue, directly and in races for candidates for state and federal office.
The fate of the measures could reshape or confirm the trendlines that have developed in the nearly two years since the U.S. Supreme Court removed the nationwide right to abortion.
Since the court’s 2022 ruling, most Republican-controlled states have new abortion restrictions in effect, including 14 banning it at every stage of pregnancy. Most Democratic-led states have laws or executive orders to protect access.
Voters in seven states — California, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Montana, Ohio and Vermont — have sided with abortion rights supporters on ballot measures since 2022.
Some efforts that sought to restrict or ban abortion also have failed to reach ballots.
In Wisconsin, the House approved a measure asking voters to ban abortion after 14 weeks, but the legislative session ended without a vote from the state Senate. Likewise, Iowa lawmakers ended their session without approving a measure asking voters to find there is no constitutional right to abortion.
Pennsylvania lawmakers previously pursued a similar amendment, but it’s not expected to be added to the ballot this year. A Louisiana measure to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution died in committee, one in Maine effectively died when it fell short of receiving the approval of two-thirds of the House and a Minnesota measure was not passed by lawmakers.
Colorado’s top election official confirmed in May that a measure to enshrine abortion protections in the state constitution, including requirements that Medicaid and private health insurers cover it, made the ballot for the fall election.
Supporters said they gathered more than 225,000 signatures, nearly double the requirement of over 124,000 signatures. Amending the state constitution requires the support of 55% of voters.
Those backing a dueling measure, a law to ban abortion, did not turn in signatures, and the measure will not go before voters.
Abortion is legal at all stages of pregnancy in Colorado.
The state Supreme Court ruled in April that a ballot measure to legalize abortion until fetal viability could go on the ballot despite a legal challenge from state Attorney General Ashley Moody, who argued there are differing views on the meaning of “viability” and that some key terms in the proposed measure are not properly defined.
Advocates collected nearly a million signatures to put a state constitutional amendment to legalize abortion until viability on the ballot, surpassing the nearly 892,000 required.
To take effect, the measure would need agreement from 60% of voters.
Abortion is currently illegal in Florida after the first six weeks of pregnancy, before many women know they are pregnant, under a law that took effect May 1.
Maryland voters also will be asked this year to enshrine the right to abortion in the state’s constitution. The state already protects the right to abortion under state law and Democrats outnumber Republicans 2-1. Abortion is allowed in Maryland until viability.
South Dakota voters will decide this fall on a measure that would ban any restrictions on abortion in the first trimester of pregnancy. It would allow the state in the second trimester to “regulate the pregnant woman’s abortion decision and its effectuation only in ways that are reasonably related to the physical health of the pregnant woman.”
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