At the same time as they were selecting their next president, voters in several states had another crucial choice to make on their ballot: whether to expand or restrict abortion rights. The results of these referendums began to be revealed late in the evening: the citizens of Florida refused to enshrine this right in their state’s Constitution, but those of Maryland, Colorado, Missouri and the State of New York voted for measures to protect access to voluntary terminations of pregnancy.
This way of doing things is not a first: in the United States, presidential election ballots can also contain referendum questions, aimed at modifying laws or the Constitution of the States. Tuesday, the bulletins invited citizens of 10 states to vote on no fewer than 11 measures regarding the right to abortion.
“This is a record for a single year,” commented in an interview with Duty Véronique Pronovost, doctoral student in sociology and researcher in residence at the Raoul-Dandurand Chair.
American women’s access to the pregnancy termination procedure has been significantly restricted since 2022, since the United States Supreme Court overturned the ruling. Roe v. Wadewhich had offered constitutional protection to the right to abortion since 1973.
Following this judgment, the power to legislate and impose restrictions relating to the voluntary termination of pregnancy has fully returned to the hands of the States. Many have seized the opportunity, increasing restrictive laws and piling up obstacles for American women seeking to terminate their pregnancies. In response to these limitations, citizens hoping to turn the tide have added referendum questions to the ballots.
Thus, among those for the 2024 presidential election, there were 10 measures seeking to expand the right to abortion and one aiming to restrict it even more. Other states that included such questions on their ballots were Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, South Dakota and Nebraska — the latter of which offered both a measure in favor of right to abortion and a measure to prohibit it after the first trimester.
The results
The results of these referendum questions were revealed little by little on Tuesday evening, and Florida was the first to make its voters’ choice known.
“Amendment Number 4” sought to limit the scope of action of the Florida government so that it could not prohibit the termination of a pregnancy before the viability of the fetus or when it is necessary for the health of the patient. In this very red state in the American South-East, the measure protecting the right to abortion failed: to become a reality, it had to obtain 60% of the votes cast. It is therefore a victory for the very conservative governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, who had fiercely opposed the presence of the question on the ballot. The ban on most abortions beyond the first six weeks of pregnancy, a measure he himself signed, will therefore be maintained.
In Colorado, the proposed amendment was intended to amend the state Constitution to recognize the right to abortion and prohibit local governments and state elected officials from obstructing it. The measure had to obtain the favor of 55% of voters, and it crossed this threshold in the evening.
In Maryland and New York, the legislative changes appearing on the ballot were broadly intended to amend the Constitution to strengthen the right to abortion. They were favored by a simple majority of voters, the threshold to be reached in these two states.
The result of this referendum vote in Colorado, Maryland and New York State was not really surprising: these three states voted blue and were already permissive towards abortion. But in Missouri, a state that voted Republican and is at the same time pro-abortion, its citizens chose to eliminate the near-total ban on voluntary terminations of pregnancies.
According to Véronique Pronovost, the issue will also be particularly important in South Dakota, where abortion is completely illegal. A gain remains possible, but “unlikely”, she believes.
The other results of the referendum questions should be revealed soon.
Since the invalidation of Roe v. Wadethe picture of access to abortion has changed in the country: 13 states have completely banned it, with very narrow exceptions — some do not even authorize it in cases of incest or rape. The exception that allows termination of a pregnancy when the mother’s life is in danger is so narrow that women have suffered serious complications and, in some cases, even died.
Since June 2022, seven other states have significantly reduced the period within which abortion is permitted (it is often prohibited after 6 or 12 weeks of pregnancy). Such limits, in effect in 21 states, would have been illegal when Roe v. Wade was in force.
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