Reproductive rights groups are bracing for legal battles in several states where voters have approved constitutional changes to protect or expand access to abortion. this month.
After seven of the 10 anti-abortion laws passed the nation’s ballot in November, advocacy groups are now working to ensure their smooth passage, particularly in states where the amendment would repeal existing abortion bans.
Abortion rights groups are bracing for an especially tough fight in conservative Missouri, where they see one of the most restrictive bans in the country. Missouri, the US Supreme Court in 2022 Roe v. After overturning Wade’s case, it banned almost all abortions except to save the mother’s life and for emergency medical care.
The newly-passed 3rd Amendment protects abortion rights up to the 24th week of pregnancy, after which to protect a woman’s life or health, it will mark the biggest change in law of any state that has voted on the issue. this year.
Under Missouri law, a measure is officially enshrined in the state constitution 30 days after it is passed. But reproductive groups say even that doesn’t provide the legal security abortion clinics want to keep their services.
There are several key reasons for this fearful stance: Missouri is the first state with a near-abortion ban to ratify a constitutional amendment making abortion a fundamental right, and the GOP-led Legislature has long been hostile to abortion rights.
“Missouri is where the obstacles are going to be the biggest,” said Olivia Cappello, who helps manage state advocacy operations for Planned Parenthood’s national political arm. “Decades of restrictions and cuts to state funding for reproductive health services, as well as general hostility from state government, have driven many abortion providers out of the state. Therefore, it will take some time to rebuild the care infrastructure there.”
Anti-abortion groups and Republican lawmakers in Missouri protested the appearance of the event in the bulletin at each step. As a result, despite the passage of the ballot measure, lawmakers are not expected to quickly change state abortion access laws.
“Going to the courts is our fastest option and also our most likely option to work in Missouri,” he said.
The ACLU of Missouri already has, along with a coalition of reproductive rights groups filed a lawsuit As part of efforts to force the passage of the amendment, it seeks to block dozens of abortion restrictions on the books in the state, including blanket bans.
“Missourians voted overwhelmingly to end Missouri’s abortion ban and protect reproductive freedom. Our lawsuit is the next step in fulfilling the promise of the amendment,” said Tori Schafer, deputy director of policy and campaigns for the ACLU of Missouri.
The lawsuit specifically asks the Missouri Supreme Court to declare the state’s abortion ban unconstitutional and requires legal authorization for abortion providers in the state to immediately resume services. A hearing in the case was scheduled for December 4, a day before the amendment was officially enacted.
Several anti-abortion groups, including Missouri Women Stand with Women and the Thomas More Society, shown they will struggle to implement, but did not offer concrete plans.
Kelsey Pritchard, state public affairs director for Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, a national anti-abortion group working to oppose passage of the amendment in Missouri and elsewhere, said in an email that the measure was a “margin of victory.” It was “a clear indication that pro-life victories are in Missouri’s future.”
Pritchard did not provide any specifics on how the group might fight the implementation of the measure in the state.
Similar efforts seem inevitable Arizonawhere transition Proposition 139 created a “fundamental right” in the state constitution to obtain an abortion until the fetus is viable, with exceptions if a health care provider determines it is necessary to “preserve the life or physical or mental health of the pregnant person.”
Officials will officially certify the results of the statewide election on Monday, opening the door to further litigation over its implementation.
Passage of the ballot measure would effectively overturn Arizona’s existing abortion law — which states abortions are legal up to the 15th week of pregnancy, except to save a woman’s life, except for rape or consanguinity — and conflict with abortion rights. the groups say there are about 40 other restrictions on care in state law.
To make the measure effective, the groups plan to fast-track Monday’s certification deadline, which they say is designed to encourage judges to overturn dozens of existing abortion restrictions on the state’s books. They expect the process to take months.
“The 40-plus laws on the books don’t automatically go away,” said Chris Love, general counsel for Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona. “There should be legal challenges to most or all of those 40 laws and regulations.”
After a 15-week ban, the future of many of these abortion restrictions in the state may be in question, despite the measure’s success.
“There are probably others that an Arizona judge, appointed by one of our many Republican governors over the decades, would see it differently,” said Dawn Penich, a spokeswoman for the get-out-the-vote campaign. He pointed to the 24-hour waiting period required for women to receive abortion care in the state as an example of a law that could be allowed to stand.
Even if the amendment is passed, providing access to abortion with fetal viability “will not be easy and certainly not quick,” he said.
Anti-abortion groups have yet to file any lawsuits to block the measure from moving forward in Arizona. At least one prominent anti-abortion organization has vowed to fight its implementation.
“Hopefully we’ll bring more in the next few weeks and months to make this fight a lifetime. This fight is far from over,” said Arizona Right to Life Chair Jill Norgaard. In a statement this week, his group urged “allies in the fight against Proposition 139 to work together to repeal it.”
Susan B. Anthony Pritchard of Pro-Life America, which worked against passage of the measure in Arizona, did not respond to questions about the group’s involvement in a future statewide implementation.
Meanwhile, litigation on either side of the issue has yet to occur in Montana voters passed a ballot measure enshrining abortion in the state constitution. But abortion rights groups in the Republican state said they were ready for any response.
In Montana, abortion is already legal until fetal viability, meaning there is no need for a complex legal process to overcome any major restrictions. This meant that abortion rights groups did not need to make any affirmative case, greatly reducing the likelihood of any potential problems in implementing the measure.
Abortion rights groups also don’t expect much of a fight in Colorado, Maryland, Nevada or New York — the remaining four states where voters earlier this month passed measures enshrining abortion rights in their state constitutions.
In Nevada, voters would have to pass the same measure again in 2026 to take effect (under state law, such amendments must pass in two consecutive election cycles).
Abortions are already legal based on fetal viability in Maryland and New York, while Colorado has no abortion laws and no pregnancy limit for women seeking abortions. Constitutional amendments in these blue states almost entirely prevent lawmakers from repealing existing protections in the future.
Selectors included Florida, Nebraska and South Dakota rejected proposed amendments to state constitutions that would have provided abortion protections, the first states to fail abortion rights ballot measures since the Supreme Court overturned Roe.
Reproductive rights groups said the results reveal that there remains serious opposition to abortion rights in many pockets across the country and that they will not accept anything, including in states where such measures have passed.
“Election events do not end on election day. “Ballot measure coalitions must be engaged for the long haul to ensure that the policies they adopt are implemented in the spirit they were intended to be,” said Quentin Savwoir, director of programs and strategy at the Center for Election Initiative Strategy, which works with progressive organizations to help advance citizen-driven ballot measures.
Savvoir added that his group expects to see an increase in measures and legislation that would make it harder for other states to put the future of abortion rights directly in the hands of voters.
He predicted, for example, that bills mirroring Florida’s law requiring 60% voter support to pass any citizen-driven ballot initiative in GOP-led states. (Ballot measure enshrining abortion rights in Florida constitution failedthough received support of 57% of voters.)
“Given the overwhelming support for our initiatives, we are bracing for an increase in all kinds of attacks on the ballot size and the initiative process itself,” he said.