Abortion rights advocates claimed victory on Wednesday after US voters lobbied multiple ballot initiatives to protect access to the procedure, in a rebuke of the Supreme Court’s June decision to overturn nationwide access.
Voters in California, Vermont and Michigan gave strong support to proposed state constitutional amendments guaranteeing abortion rights.
And in Republican stronghold Kentucky — where abortion has been banned since the Supreme Court ruled — voters rejected a state charter amendment that would have made it virtually impossible to challenge the state ban.
In Montana, the fifth state to put an abortion measure on the ballot, a preliminary count showed voters there also opposed anti-procedural laws.
Analysts believe that progressive voters were motivated in part by the conservative-majority Supreme Court ruling to vote in Tuesday’s midterm elections, which saw Roe v. Wade, the 1973 case that made abortion a constitutional right was overturned.
The court’s decision turned the issue over to states to decide, and anti-abortion groups campaigned heavily to ban or severely restrict the practice.
Around 15 states imposed sweeping bans that the White House denounced as a “radical” attack on fundamental rights.
“Across the country, last night we saw an unequivocal rejection of the Supreme Court’s decision to overthrow Roe,” said Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights.
“From Kentucky to Michigan to Vermont to California, Americans want their abortion rights protected.
“People are full of energy and don’t want politicians controlling their bodies and their future.”
Planned Parenthood said the rulings proved the issue motivated voters.
“The experts were wrong. Abortion rights changed the game in this election,” the organization said.
Anthony Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, said the polls in the five states showed voters “will champion the possibility of accessing basic abortion care in overwhelming numbers.”
He said the findings validated the ACLU’s efforts to support government initiatives to protect access to abortion.
But, he added, their “work is far from complete at the federal level or in states across the country.”
The votes in California, Michigan and Vermont for constitutional amendments to protect abortion rights were not surprising: all three are firmly democratic states and the voting verdict was unequivocal.
In conservative Kentucky, however, the ballot measure, backed by anti-abortion groups, was defeated by a relatively narrow majority of 52 percent to 48 percent.
The Guttmacher Institute, which campaigns for abortion rights, conceded that the procedure would remain banned in Kentucky after Tuesday’s vote.
“While abortion is still prohibited in the state except in very narrow circumstances, the defeat of this measure is a significant win and could set the stage for future advances in abortion rights,” it said.
