Six States Put Abortion on the Ballot, With More to Follow

As of this week, citizens of six states will vote on abortion-related ballot initiatives come Nov. 5. Efforts to place similar initiatives on the ballot are underway in five additional states. In many states, pro-abortion efforts are raking in far greater contributions than the pro-life groups opposing the proposals. As much as it would help to change hearts and minds, pro-life advocates could stand to put their money where their mouth is, too. 

Keeping Abortion Legal

Though abortion is already legal in New York and Colorado, pro-abortion activists are hoping to enshrine abortion access in the states’ constitutions. 

In New York, which only limits abortions after fetal viability, the Equal Rights Amendment would expand the state constitution’s ban on discrimination to include “ethnicity, national origin, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, pregnancy outcomes and reproductive healthcare and autonomy.” The amendment would create protections for women who obtain abortions and has received support from pro-choice Democrats, as well as Planned Parenthood of Greater New York, Planned Parenthood Action Fund, and the National Institute for Reproductive Health.  

Colorado currently has no limits on abortion, and the Colorado Right to Abortion and Health Insurance Coverage would add a right to abortion to the state constitution and permit the use of public funds for abortions. The initiative needs a supermajority of 55 percent of votes to pass, but support for the amendment is well-funded and well-organized. According to Ballotpedia, Coloradans for Protecting Reproductive Freedom has reported $4.48 million in contributions and $3.67 million in expenditures in support of the initiative. By contrast, opposing groups Pro-Life Colorado Fund and Vote No on 89 have registered $1400 and spent just over $200. 

In Maryland, too, abortion activists have added the Maryland Right to Reproductive Freedom Act, which would enshrine the state’s permissive abortion laws into the constitution.  (RELATED: Chemical Abortion Enables Democrat Anti-Life Agenda)

In Nevada, pro-abortion activists have put the Nevada Right to Abortion Initiative on the ballot, which would grant constitutional protection to the state’s existing laws, which permit abortion up to 24 weeks. As of April 1, the supporting PAC raised over $3.2 million in contributions, while the opposing PAC reported no contributions. The next deadline for scheduled reports is mid-July, though it’s unlikely that the group opposing the initiative can regain lost ground.

Challenging Abortion Bans with Direct Democracy

For other states, however, pro-abortion ballot initiatives are more than just political theater. Florida voters will weigh in on Governor Ron DeSantis’s six-week ban via ballot proposal this November. The Right to Abortion Initiative would provide a constitutional right to abortion prior to fetal viability. 

In April, polling among registered voters in Florida indicated that about sixty percent of voters support expanding abortion access up to fetal viability — the threshold necessary for the initiative to pass. But other polls signaled greater uncertainty about the referendum’s outcome. Data published in April by Forbes indicated that 42 percent of voters planned to vote in favor of expanding abortion access, 25 percent of voters would vote against the initiative, and about 32 percent of voters were undecided. 

Unfortunately, American elections generally follow a simple rule: Whoever spends the most money wins. As of last month, the pro-abortion Floridians Protecting Freedom campaign raised $32.26 million in contributions, compared to $270 thousand raised by Florida Voters Against Extremism, the group organized in opposition to the initiative. 

Returning to Roe

Pro-abortion activists are hoping to circumvent abortion bans in South Dakota, as well. Constitutional Amendment G, the Right to Abortion Initiative, would replace the state’s total ban with the original framework from Roe v. Wade. Under Constitutional Amendment G, the state could not regulate abortion in the first trimester of pregnancy, could regulate abortion in the second trimester only when “reasonably related to the physical health of the pregnant woman,” and could regulate or fully prohibit abortion in the third trimester except for when “medically necessary.” (RELATED: Abortion Isn’t Funny)

Unlike other ballot initiatives, contributions in support of and opposition to South Dakota’s constitutional proposed amendment are relatively balanced. As of May 15, Dakotans for Health had raised $350 thousand in support of the Roe framework, and Life Defense Fund had raised $267 thousand in opposition to the initiative. 

Polling conducted by South Dakota State at the end of 2023 indicated that “there is not a majority in either the pro-life or pro-choice direction on abortion policy.” About 48 percent of voters supported the pre-Dobbs framework, with 40 percent opposed. Though South Dakota’s abortion laws maintain an exception for maternal health, the majority of voters objected to the lack of an exception for cases of rape and incest. Fifty-nine percent of voters strongly supported an exception in that instance, with an additional 18 percent of voters saying they “somewhat support” the exception.

Ballot Initiatives Pending

Five additional states could place abortion on the ballot in the coming weeks and months. In Missouri and Montana, proposals are awaiting legislative approval by the legislature before they are added to the ballot. In Nebraska, competing groups just submitted the requisite signatures for their respective ballot proposals — one that would create a constitutional right to abortion, and one that would codify the state’s existing 12-week abortion ban in the state constitution. In Arizona, too, pro-abortion activists have submitted twice as many signatures as needed to put the proposal to a vote in November. The only state facing a barrier thus far is Arkansas, which still needed 5,800 signatures on Wednesday afternoon before its July 5 filing deadline. 

We’ve heard quite a lot about how this election is a critical juncture for our democracy. That up to eleven states will take a vote on the mass industrialized slaughter of the unborn indicates that our sacred democracy may have taken a wrong turn decades before the 2024 ballots were printed. 

Mary Frances Myler is a contributing editor at The American Spectator. She graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 2022. 

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