After months of collecting signatures, filing petitions and conducting court trials, constitutional amendments protecting or expanding abortion rights are officially set to appear on the general election ballot in 10 states.
Voters in swing states (Arizona and Nevada), blue-leaning states (Colorado, Maryland and New York) and red-leaning states (Florida, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska and South Dakota) will have the opportunity to directly decide their future. the possibility of an abortion this fall. Only among the organizers who submitted signatures to approve an abortion rights amendment on this year’s ballot Those in Arkansas shortened.
It will be 10 initiatives latest to follow Enshrining access to abortion in the state constitution after the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade in 2022.
Here’s what the proposed amendments would do if passed and how they would affect existing abortion care laws in these states.
Arizona
The proposed a constitutional amendment A ballot measure in this crucial southwestern battleground would create a “fundamental right” for abortion up to fetal viability, or about the 24th week of pregnancy. After that point, the measure would prohibit the state from restricting abortion in cases where the health or life of a pregnant woman is at risk, according to the treating health care provider.
Under current Arizona law, abortion is legal until the 15th week of pregnancyafter that, rape or consanguinity is not excluded except to save the woman’s life. If voters approve the proposed ballot measure in November, it would effectively repeal the 15-week ban. A simple support cluster is needed to pass it.
Colorado
A proposed amendment in Colorado would formally declare “the right to abortion is hereby recognized” and “the government shall not deny, impede or discriminate against the exercise of this right.”
It also makes clear that the government cannot prohibit health insurance coverage for abortion, including public employee insurance plans and publicly funded insurance plans. The provision would effectively repeal a 1984 law that barred people from using health insurance for abortions.
A ballot measure in Colorado, which has no laws restricting abortion and no general pregnancy restrictions for women seeking abortions, is designed to formally enshrine those rights, which movement organizers say is crucial to preventing lawmakers from being able to repeal them in the future. .
In order to pass in November, the measure needs the support of 55% of voters, not a simple majority under state law.
Florida
State ballot initiative would prohibit restrictions includes exceptions past this point for abortion before fetal viability and for “the health of the patient as determined by the patient’s health care provider.”
Acceptance of change would effectively cancel it of the state six week ban on rape, consanguinity, and abortion, which includes exceptions for a woman’s life.
Under Florida law, a measure must receive the support of 60% of voters in November, rather than a simple majority, to pass.
Maryland
Maryland lawmakers, who control the amendment process rather than citizens, voted to place a measure on the ballot that would enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution.
This language would add to ensure the right to “make and exercise decisions to prevent, continue or terminate one’s own pregnancy”.
After that, abortion is now legal in the state because of fetal viability, with exceptions when a woman’s life or health is at risk or a fetal abnormality is detected. A simple majority is required for passage.
Missouri
The Missouri Amendment will preserve the language in the state constitution to protect abortion rights until the viability of the fetus, with exceptions for the life and health of the mother.
The amendment specifically states that the government “shall not deny or infringe an individual’s fundamental right to reproductive freedom,” and the amendment would cover all reproductive health decisions, including expressly certain categories such as “birth control,” “abortion care,” and “miscarriage.” is done. care” – until the viability of the fetus. The proposal also makes any “denial, interference with, delay or limitation” of such care “null and void.”
After that point, the government can regulate abortion, except in cases where the treating health care provider deems the mother’s “life, physical or mental health” to be at risk.
At the same time, correction would allow legislators and government officials limit or limit abortion rights, provided it is “for a limited purpose and has limited effect on improving or maintaining the health of the person seeking care, is consistent with widely accepted clinical standards of practice and evidence-based medicine, and does not interfere with that person’s independent decision-making.”
Missouri has one of the strictest abortion bans in the United States, except to protect the mother’s life and emergency medical care. If the amendment were to pass, it would effectively repeal that law. A simple majority is needed for passage.
Montana
Ballot size in Montana will amend the state constitution to provide for the right to “make and exercise decisions about one’s own pregnancy, including the right to an abortion.” It would also “prohibit the government from denying or burdening the right to an abortion before the fetus reaches viability” and “prohibiting the government from denying or burdening a pregnant patient with access to an abortion when the treating health care provider determines that it is medically necessary to preserve the life of the pregnant patient will do.” health.”
Abortion is currently legal in Montana until fetal viability enshrining abortion rights in the state constitution would make it harder for lawmakers to repeal existing protections in the future. A simple majority is required for passage.
Nebraska
in Nebraska, two dueling constitutional amendments will emerge in the November newsletter.
one voting measuresKnown as Protect Abortion Rights, the law would amend the state constitution to provide that “all persons have the fundamental right to obtain an abortion prior to fetal viability or when necessary to preserve the life or health of a pregnant patient.”
Another, called Protect Women and Children, bans second- and third-trimester abortions except in medical emergencies or when the pregnancy is the result of sexual assault or consanguinity.
Currently, Nebraska law prohibits abortion after 12 weeks of pregnancy, except for rape, consanguinity, and to save the life of the mother. An abortion rights measure would effectively repeal that law, while another would codify the law in the state constitution.
In order for a ballot measure to pass in Nebraska, it must receive a majority of the votes cast and at least 35% of the total votes cast in its favor in the election. If both amendments pass, the one with the most votes prevails.
Nevada
Abortion is now legal in Nevada up to the 24th week of pregnancy. But fearing that such rights may be revoked in the future, reproductive rights defends succeeded amending the constitution It will enshrine similar language on the November ballot, protecting abortion rights up to the point of fetal viability.
Under state law, even if the measure passes in November, voters would have to approve it again in 2026 before it can be formally amended to Nevada’s constitution.
New York
As in Maryland, legislators, not citizens, control the corrections process in New York. State lawmakers have voted to put a measure on the ballot that would enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution.
The Equal Protection of Law Amendment does not actually address abortion explicitly, but would enshrine rights in state constitutions designed to protect against anything the government does to affect a person’s “pregnancy, pregnancy outcomes, and reproductive health and autonomy.”
Abortion is legal in New York up to the 24th week of pregnancy. Passage of the proposal—which requires a simple majority—would effectively entrench these predictions constitutionally.
South Dakota
The Proposed constitutional amendment in South Dakota would make abortion legal in all cases during the first trimester of pregnancy. It would allow “adjustment” of abortion status during the second trimester of pregnancy, but such an adjustment “must be reasonably related to the physical health of the pregnant woman.”
The amendment would allow for “regulation or prohibition” by the state in the third trimester, except when a doctor determines the care is necessary to “preserve the life or health” of the woman.
If the amendment passes, the state’s 2022 Roe v. It would almost completely repeal its ban on abortion, which was re-enacted after the Wade case was overturned. all abortions except when necessary to save the woman’s life.
A ballot measure must win a simple majority to pass.