Where are Reproductive Rights & Abortion on the Ballot?
Abortion and Reproductive Rights are on the ballot in 10 states in the November 2024 election. You have the opportunity to vote for much more than just a presidential candidate - the measures on your states ballots can change the course of your state's - and the country's - future. So what's on the ballot?
Arizona
Prop 139: Vote YES to support amending the state constitution to provide the fundamental right to abortion
In Arizona, you will be voting on whether to amend the state constituation to add the right to abortion up to the point of fetal viability. The amendment would prevent Arizona from banning abortions before a fetus can survive outside the womb and would allow later abortions to protect a woman’s physical or mental health. Abortion is currently legal for the first 15 weeks of pregnancy in Arizona.
Colorado
Amendment 79: Vote YES to support creating a right to abortion in the state constitution and allowing the use of public funds for abortion.
In Colorado, you will vote to enshrine abortion protections in the state constitution, along with the requirement that Medicaid and private health insurers cover abortion. Abortion is currently legal at all stages of pregnancy in Colorado.
Florida
Amendment 4: Vote YES to support adding the following language to the Florida Constitution's Declaration of Rights: "... no law shall prohibit, penalize, delay, or restrict abortion before viability or when necessary to protect the patient’s health, as determined by the patient’s healthcare provider."
Florida will be voting to add legal abortion until viability to Florida's constitution. Abortion is currently illegal in Florida after the first six weeks of pregnancy under a law that took effect May 1.
Maryland
Question 1: Vote YES to add a new article to the Maryland Constitution's Declaration of Rights establishing a right to reproductive freedom, defined to include "the ability to make and effectuate decisions to prevent, continue, or end one's own pregnancy."
This question will enshrine the right to abortion in the state constitution. In Maryland, abortion is currently legal until viability.
Missouri
Amendment 3: Vote YES to support adding a fundamental right to reproductive freedom, defined to include abortion and “all matters relating to reproductive health care,” to the Missouri Constitution.
Voting on Amendment 3 in Missouri will decide whether to guarantee a right to abortion with a constitutional amendment that would reverse the state’s near-total ban. This measure would create a right to abortion until “there is a significant likelihood of the fetus’s sustained survival outside the uterus without the application of extraordinary medical measures.” It would allow abortions after fetal viability if a health care professional determines it’s necessary to protect the life or physical or mental health of the pregnant woman.
Montana
CI-128: Vote YES to support amending the Montana Constitution to include a "right to make and carry out decisions about one’s own pregnancy, including the right to abortion," and allow the state to regulate abortion after fetal viability, except when "medically indicated to protect the life or health of the pregnant patient."
If it passes, this measure would bar the government from denying the right to abortion before viability or when it is necessary to protect the life or health of the pregnant person. Right now, abortion is legal until viability in the state of Montana under a 1999 Montana Supreme Court opinion.
Nebraska
Initiative 434: Vote NO to oppose amending the state constitution to prohibit abortions after the first trimester unless necessitated by a medical emergency or the pregnancy is a result of sexual assault or incest.
Initiative 439: Vote YES to support amending the state constitution to establish a right to abortion until fetal viability.
In Nebraska, abortion is currrently illegal after the 12th week of pregnancy. There are two measures relating to abortion on the Nebraska ballot this fall. Initiative 439 would establish a right to abortion until fetal viability. Initiative 434 would write the current 12-week ban into the state constitution (with exceptions for rape, incest, or to save the pregnant person's life).
Nevada
Question 6: Vote YES to support a state constitutional right to an abortion, providing for the state to regulate abortion after fetal viability, except where medically indicated to "protect the life or health of the pregnant patient."
This amendment would ensure abortion access for the first 24 weeks of pregnancy - or later to protect the health of the pregnant person. Abortion is currently legal in Nevada until viability under a law passed in 1990.
New York
Proposal 1: Vote YES to add language to the New York Bill of Rights to provide that people cannot be denied rights based on their "ethnicity, national origin, age, and disability" or "sex, including sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, pregnancy outcomes, and reproductive healthcare and autonomy."
This measure in New York would bar unequal treatment based on “pregnancy outcomes” and “reproductive healthcare and autonomy,” along with sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin and disability. It will protect abortion access, which is currently allowed in New York until fetal viability.
South Dakota
Amendment G: Vote YES to support a state constitutional right to abortion.
This amendment supports a right to abortion using a trimester framework for regulation:
- During the first trimester, the state would be prohibited from regulating a woman's decision to have an abortion;
- During the second trimester, the state may regulate abortion, but "only in ways that are reasonably related to the physical health of the pregnant woman;" and
- During the third trimester, the state may regulate or prohibit abortion, except "when abortion is necessary, in the medical judgment of the woman's physician, to preserve the life and health of the pregnant woman."
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