WASHINGTON — Abortion will be in the spotlight for 10 states Tuesday — the largest number of abortion-related state measures to qualify in one U.S. election.
Voters in Montana, Maryland, Colorado, New York, Nebraska, Florida, Missouri, South Dakota, Nevada and Arizona will all see abortion on the ballot, underscoring an issue that Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris and other national Democrats have made key to their bids.
Voters have backed abortion rights on all seven abortion-related state ballot initiatives since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022 — even in states where Republicans control the majority of the state government.
Still, this year’s crop of measures could be a harder sell, with advocates targeting a broader variety of states amid competing presidential election priorities.
The slate includes:
• Montana — whether the right to carry out decisions about one’s pregnancy including abortion should be added to the state constitution. Montana voters defeated an anti-abortion measure in 2022.
• Colorado — whether to add a right to abortion to the state constitution and allow health plans to cover the procedure. The initiative will need at least 55% in favor to pass. Colorado voters rejected a measure to ban abortion after 22 weeks in 2020.
• Maryland — whether to establish a right to reproductive freedom including abortion in the state constitution.
• New York —whether to expand the characteristics protected under the state constitution to include pregnancy, pregnancy outcomes, and reproductive health care and autonomy.
Nebraska
Nebraska voters are faced with two competing questions: whether to approve a constitutional amendment that would enshrine the right to abortion before a fetus can survive outside the womb and whether to approve a prohibition on abortion after the first trimester with exception for cases of rape, incest and medical emergencies.
The state currently prohibits abortion beyond 12 weeks of pregnancy, with limited exceptions.
Florida
The Florida measure would limit the state’s ability to enforce abortion restrictions before viability, about 23 or 24 weeks, or when it would interfere with the ability to protect the patient’s health. It will need to clear a 60% threshold to pass.
The initiative has faced a complicated path because of litigation. Abortion opponents have filed multiple lawsuits challenging the validity of the signatures collected to qualify for the ballot.
