Florida, two other states defy trend and vote down abortion rights

Voters approved most of the referendums expanding the right to abortion in US states on Tuesday, while Florida, Nebraska and South Dakota rejected such measures, giving anti-abortion advocates their first victories since the US Supreme Court ended the constitutional right to the procedure in 2022.

A proposal to amend Florida's state constitution to guarantee abortion rights fell short of the 60% vote threshold needed to pass, Edison Research projected.

In Nebraska, voters faced two opposing ballot measures. They approved one enshrining the state's current 12-week ban, with exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother, the Associated Press (AP) projected. At the same time they rejected a measure that would have added the right to access abortions to the state constitution, the AP projected.

South Dakota voters rejected a proposed amendment that would have guaranteed abortion rights in the state constitution, the AP projected. Abortion is banned in South Dakota, with few exceptions.

Edison projected abortion rights measures would pass in Arizona, Missouri, Nevada, Colorado, New York, Maryland and Montana.

The Missouri ballot measure was a notable win, marking the first time voters in a state enforcing a total abortion ban approved a constitutional amendment that will guarantee abortion rights through fetal viability. The measure's passage will not automatically void the state's ban, but abortion rights advocates now expect they will win a legal battle to restore abortion rights within months.

Before Tuesday, seven states had put the issue of abortion rights directly to voters after the US Supreme Court decision to overturn the landmark 1973 Roe vs Wade ruling. Abortion rights campaigns had won all of those elections.

Edison Research said the Florida measure was approved by 57% of voters with 95% of votes counted. Since it failed to meet the 60% threshold, a ban on abortions after the sixth week of pregnancy that came into affect in May will stand.

Florida's ban after the sixth week has few exceptions.

Anti-abortion advocate Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B Anthony Pro-Life America, called Florida's result “a momentous victory”. Her group also celebrated the results in Nebraska and South Dakota and thanked politicians such as South Dakota governor Kristi Noem and Nebraska governor Jim Pillen.

Anna Hochkammer, director of Florida Women's Freedom Coalition, which backed that state's measure, noted 57% still represented a majority of voters. “The fight goes on because the women and girls of Florida continue to suffer,” she said.

The Democratic Party's presidential candidate, US Vice-President Kamala Harris, had sought to build support for Tuesday's ballot measures that propose amending state constitutions to enshrine a right to abortion.

Democrats have blamed the Republican Party, led by former president Donald Trump, for the abortion bans that many of the measures sought to void. More than a dozen states banned abortion in all or most cases after the Supreme Court — with a Trump-appointed conservative majority — gutted the federal right to abortion.

Trump, a Florida resident, had said he would vote against the ballot measure, after initially appearing to suggest he would vote in favour. 

Reuters