Abortion-rights advocates notched victories in several states Tuesday, and voters delivered a double dose of disapproval to US President Donald Trump’s redistricting efforts as they decided 145 ballot questions in more than three dozen states. The ballot measures provided a political undercard for a high-profile midterm election in which Democrats took control of Congress and gained power in state legislatures and gubernatorial offices. Read moreWhy the Democrats routed the Republicans in the US midterm elections Some measures put Trump’s priorities to a public test by gauging support for his attempts to redraw congressional districts– a practice also known as gerrymandering – limit transgender athletes in sports and strengthen voter identification requirements.
Voters defeated a proposed amendment to Missouri’s constitution that would have reimposed restrictions on most abortions. The vote Tuesday essentially reaffirmed voters' decision from two years ago, when they became the first in the nation to undo an existing abortion ban by approving an abortion-rights amendment. The Republican-led Legislature then referred a new, less restrictive version of an abortion ban to this year’s ballot.
The measure would have allowed abortions only for medical emergencies and foetal anomalies, or in cases of rape or incest up to 12 weeks of pregnancy. It also would have amended the constitution to prohibit certain medical procedures for transgender minors. Abortion-rights advocates, led by national progressive groups, heavily outspent abortion foes in a successful campaign to defeat the Missouri ballot measure.
In Virginia, a voter-approved measure creates a "fundamental right to reproductive freedom" in the state constitution, ensuring that abortions can occur during the first two trimesters of pregnancy. The amendment also creates a right to contraception and fertility care, among other things. An amendment approved in Nevada creates a fundamental right to abortion until fetal viability, which is generally considered after 21 weeks of pregnancy.
The amendment won initial voter approval in 2024 but needed a second vote this year to add it to the constitution. Since the USSupreme Courtoverturned a nationwide right to abortion in 2022, voters in more than one-fifth of the states have passed ballot measures protecting abortion rights. But voters in Republican-leaning Idaho on Tuesday defeated a ballot measure that would have created abortion rights in state law.
Current Idaho law bans abortions unless necessary to save the life of a pregnant woman, or during the first trimester of pregnancy in cases where rape or incest has been reported to law enforcement. Abortion-rights measures failed two years ago in Florida and South Dakota. Nine states are using new congressional districts in the midterm elections after a rare spate of mid-decade redistricting encouraged by Trump.
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