Pro-abortion advocates take part in a protest on May 30, 2019 in St. Louis, Missouri.
Election officials of Arizona y Missouri announced this week that supporters of the right to abortion in their states had gathered enough petition signatures to include the amendments proposals that enshrine the right to abortion in the constitutions of their stateswhich brings the number of states who will vote on the abortion in the elections scheduled for November.
The Court Supreme of States United States eliminated the national right to abortion with a 2022 ruling that sparked a national movement to place the decision in the hands of the voters.
Since the ruling was issued, most of the states governed by Republicans have approved restrictions al abortionincluding 14 that prohibit it at all stages of pregnancy. Most of the states led by Democrats have laws or executive orders to protect access to the procedure.
Los voters of the seven states who have raised questions about the abortion to the voters from 2022—California, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, MontanaOhio and Vermont—have sided with pro-choice advocates. abortion.
What will be on the 2024 ballot?
Los voters of Missouri will decide whether to guarantee the right to abortion with a amendment constitutional amendment that would reverse the state’s near-total ban.
The state government secretary’s office certified Tuesday that an initiative petition received more than enough signatures from voters registered to qualify for the general election. You will need the approval of a majority of the voters to be enshrined in the state Constitution. The ballot measure Missouri would create the right to abortion until a fetus can survive outside the womb without extraordinary medical measures, usually around 23 or 24 weeks of pregnancy. The ballot measure would allow abortions after fetal viability if a health care professional determines it is necessary to protect the life or physical or mental health of the mother.
Los voters of Arizona will decide in November whether to amend their state’s Constitution to include the right to abortion until approximately 24 weeks of pregnancy. The office of the Secretary of State for Arizona said Monday that it had certified enough signatures to include the measure in the ballot.
According to the amendment proposal, the state could not prohibit the abortion until the fetus is viable, and later abortions would be allowed to protect the woman’s physical or mental health. Opponents of the amendment proposal they say goes too far and could lead to unlimited, unregulated abortions in Arizona. Supporters say it would protect access to the abortion free from political interference.
Currently, the abortion It is legal during the first 15 weeks of pregnancy in Arizona.
The top election official of Colorado confirmed in May that a measure to enshrine the protections of the abortion in the state Constitution, along with requirements that Medicaid and private health insurers cover the procedure, gained entry into the ballot for the autumn elections.
Supporters said they gathered nearly twice the number of signatures needed.
Amending the state constitution requires the support of 55% of the voters. voters.
He abortion It is now legal at all stages of pregnancy in Colorado.
The Court Supreme State ruled in April that a measure to legalize abortion Even feasibility could be included on the ballot despite a legal challenge from the state. Ashley Moody, the attorney general, has argued that there are different views on the meaning of “feasibility,” and that some key terms in the proposed measure are not adequately defined.
To pass, the measure needs the support of at least 60% of the votersa high threshold that supporters say they hope to reach after collecting nearly a million signatures to get the petition on the ballot.
Currently, the abortion It is illegal in Florida after the first six weeks of pregnancy, under a law that went into effect on May 1.
This year, the voters of Maryland to choose whether the right to freedom of expression should be enshrined. abortion in the State Constitution. The abortion It is already allowed there until it is feasible.
The office of the secretary of government of Nevada announced in June that asking in the ballot whether rights should be enshrined abortion in the State Constitution has met all the requirements to appear before the voters in November.
According to the amendmentaccess to the 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 They would have to approve it in both 2024 and 2026.
He abortion until viability is already permitted in the state under a law passed in 1990.
Los voters of Dakota from the South will decide this fall a amendment constitutional 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 the decision of the pregnant woman to have an abortion and to carry out the abortion only in ways that are reasonably related to the physical health of the pregnant woman.” A ban on abortion would be allowed abortion in the third trimester, provided that it includes exceptions in case of risk to the life or health of the woman.
Opponents have filed a lawsuit to try to get the initiative off the ballot.
Where else could it be included? abortion in the ballot of 2024?
Defenders of the right to abortion in Montana They have proposed a amendment constitutional that would prohibit the government from denying the right to abortion before viability or when necessary to protect the life or health of the mother.
After a legal battle over the wording of the question in the ballotthe Court Supreme of Montana wrote his version of the language that would appear on the ballot if enough valid signatures were certified in April. Supporters were required to submit about 60,000 signatures by June 21. They turned in nearly twice that number — about 117,000 — and have said the counties have validated more than enough signatures. The secretary of state has until Aug. 22 to finalize the ballot. ballot November.
He abortion It is already legal in the state to viability under a ruling by the Court Supreme of Montana from 1999.
What’s on the ballot? Nueva York?
While it does not explicitly preserve the right to abortiona question about reproductive rights will be on the state ballot Nueva York. The measure would ban discrimination based on “pregnancy outcomes” and “reproductive health care,” along with sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin and disability. Currently, the abortion is allowed in Nueva York until fetal viability.
The question was already on the ballot but was struck down in May by a judge who found lawmakers skipped a procedural step when they included it. An appeals court reinstated it in June.
