The right to abortion was strengthened in several American states, including Arizona and Missouri, during referendums organized Tuesday in parallel with the presidential election, a similar consultation having however failed in Florida, the third most populous state of the country.
Florida is thus the first state to reject by referendum a proposal to extend access to the right to abortion since the cancellation, by the Supreme Court, of federal protection of this right in 2022. The subject was brought to the fore center of the presidential campaign by Democratic candidate Kamala Harris, who positioned herself as protector of women’s rights against her rival Donald Trump.
The Republican, elected during the night, had profoundly reworked the Supreme Court before it made its historic decision in the summer of 2022. The Democratic Party had also relied on these ballots to mobilize its electorate and encourage them to go to the polls. In Arizona, voters voted to amend the state constitution. The proposal restores the possibility of carrying out an abortion until the viability of the fetus (around 24 weeks of pregnancy) instead of the current 15 weeks.
In Missouri, the change will be even more stark: The state had one of the nation’s strictest abortion bans in place, with no exceptions in cases of rape or incest. Voters in this state approved an amendment to its constitution to authorize voluntary terminations of pregnancy (abortions) until the fetus is viable.
In Florida, the failed amendment also aimed to reinstate the possibility of abortion until the fetus is viable. The limit there is currently six weeks, before many women realize they are pregnant. In this state, which voted predominantly on Tuesday for Republican Donald Trump in the presidential election, the measure was expected to garner 60% of “oui” to be adopted, the highest threshold of the ten American states where referendums on the issue were organized on Tuesday.
According to media reports, 57% of voters in Florida favored the measure.
“Refusal of care”
“A majority of Florida voters made it clear tonight that they want their reproductive rights restored. But because of a high threshold of 60% and the state’s disinformation campaign, they must continue to live in fear, uncertainty and denial of care“, reacted Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights. In a press release from an anti-abortion association, Christina Pena, gynecologist in Miami, on the contrary welcomed the rejection of a measure which “would have been disastrous for women and doctors“.
Defenders of the amendment hoped that Florida, surrounded by very restrictive states on the issue of abortion, could once again become a refuge for women in the southeastern United States. For more than two years, the right to abortion had always won at the polls, even in conservative states like Kansas and Kentucky.
Almost all of the referendums organized on Tuesday on the subject aim to reverse restrictions or bans adopted since 2022, or to enshrine the right to abortion in states where it has remained legal.
Colorado, New York, and Maryland are in this second case, and the referendums organized there enshrined abortion rights, according to American media. After the Supreme Court’s decision in 2022, states regained full latitude to legislate in this area, and around twenty of them have since implemented partial or total restrictions.
Throughout her campaign, Kamala Harris denounced the tragic situations in which some women found themselves because of these bans or restrictions. Many are forced to travel to other states to obtain an abortion, and some have suffered serious complications, with doctors fearful of intervening in miscarriages or other problems for fear of be accused of performing an illegal abortion.
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