Arizona and Missouri will join 5 other states with abortion on the ballot. Who are the others?

Election officials in Arizona and Missouri announced this week that abortion rights advocates in their states have gathered enough petition signatures to place proposed amendments enshrining abortion rights in their state constitutions, bringing to seven the number of states holding votes on the issue. abortion scheduled for November.

The US Supreme Court removed the national right to abortion with a 2022 decision, which generated a national push to have voters decide.

Since the ruling, most Republican-controlled states have passed restrictions on abortion, including 14 that ban it at all stages of pregnancy. Most Democratic-led states have laws or executive orders to protect access.

Voters in all seven states that have had abortion questions before voters since 2022 — California, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Montana, Ohio and Vermont — sided with abortion rights advocates.

MISSOURI

Missouri voters will decide whether to guarantee the right to abortion with a constitutional amendment that would reverse the state’s near-total ban.

The Secretary of State’s office certified Tuesday that an initiative petition received more than enough signatures from registered voters to qualify for the general election. It will need the approval of a majority of voters to be enshrined in the state constitution.

THE Missouri ballot measure would create the right to abortion until a fetus could likely survive outside the womb without extraordinary medical measures, generally considered to be around 23 or 24 weeks of pregnancy. The ballot measure would allow abortion after fetal viability if a health care provider determines it is necessary to protect the life or physical or mental health of the pregnant woman.

ARIZONA

Voters in Arizona will decide in November whether to amend the state constitution to add the right to abortion up to about 24 weeks of pregnancy. The Arizona secretary of state’s office said Monday it has certified enough signatures to put the measure on the ballot.

Under the proposed change, the State could not prohibit abortion until the fetus was viable, with later abortions being permitted to protect the woman’s physical or mental health. Opponents of the proposed change say it goes too far and could lead to unlimited, unregulated abortions in Arizona. Supporters say this would protect access to abortion free from political interference.

Abortion is currently legal during the first 15 weeks of pregnancy in Arizona.

COLORADO

Colorado’s top election official confirmed in May that a measure to enshrine abortion protections in the state constitution, along with requirements that Medicaid and private health insurers cover abortion, was on the ballot in the fall election.

Supporters said they had gathered nearly double the required number of signatures.

Amending the state constitution requires the support of 55% of voters.

Abortion is now legal at all stages of pregnancy in Colorado.

FLORIDA

The state Supreme Court ruled in April that a measure to legalize abortion until it was viable could be voted on, despite a legal challenge from the state. Attorney General Ashley Moody argued that there are differing opinions on the meaning of “feasibility” and that some key terms in the proposed measure are not properly defined.

To be approved, the measure needs the support of at least 60% of voters, a high threshold that supporters say they hope to reach after collecting almost a million signatures on the petition to put it on the ballot.

Abortion is currently illegal in Florida after the first six weeks of pregnancy under a law which came into force on May 1st.

MARILANDIA

Maryland voters will also be asked this year to enshrine the right to abortion in the state constitution. Abortion is now allowed in Maryland until viability.

NEVADA

THE Nevada Secretary of State’s Office announced in June that a ballot question to enshrine the right to abortion in the state constitution met all requirements to appear before voters in November.

Under the amendment, access to abortion during the first 24 weeks of pregnancy – or later to protect the health of the pregnant person – would be protected. To change the constitution, voters would need to approve it in 2024 and 2026.

Abortion until viability is already allowed in the state by a law approved in 1990.

SOUTH DAKOTA

South Dakota voters decide this fall on a constitutional amendment that would prohibit any restrictions on abortion in the first trimester of pregnancy. The measure would allow the state, in the second trimester, to “regulate a pregnant woman’s abortion decision and its execution only in ways that are reasonably related to the pregnant woman’s physical health.” A ban on abortion would be permitted in the third trimester, as long as it included exceptions for the life and health of the woman.

Opponents sued to try to take the initiative away from the ballot box.

While not explicitly preserving the right to abortion, a reproductive rights issue is on the ballot in New York. The measure would be bar discrimination based on “pregnancy outcomes” and “reproductive health care,” along with sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin and disability. Currently, abortion is allowed in New York until fetal viability.

The issue was on the ballot and was removed in May by a judge who concluded Lawmakers missed a procedural step when they put it there. One appeals court reinstated it in June.

MONTANA

Abortion rights advocates in Montana have proposed a constitutional amendment that would prevent the government from denying the right to an abortion before viability or when necessary to protect the life or health of the pregnant person.

After a legal battle over the ballot text, the Montana Supreme Court in April wrote its version of the text that would appear on the ballot if a sufficient number of valid signatures were certified. Sponsors were required to submit around 60,000 signatures by June 21. They turned in nearly twice as many — about 117,000 — and supporters said counties validated more than enough signatures. The Secretary of State has until August 22 to finalize the November vote.

Abortion is legal until it is viable in the state, according to a 1999 Montana Supreme Court opinion.

NEBRASKA

Competing abortion measures could be presented to voters in November, after supporters of each said this month they had turned in far more signatures than the 123,000 needed for ballot access.

One of them would enshrine in the state constitution the right to abortion until viability. Supporters said they submitted more than 207,000 signatures.

The other would write the current law into the constitution, which prohibits abortion after the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, with some exceptions. His supporters said they had submitted more than 205,000 signatures.

The measure that receives the most votes will become part of the state constitution.