10 States Where Abortion Is on the Ballot This Election Day

  • Michael Foust Crosswalk Headlines Contributor
  • Published Oct 24, 2024
10 States Where Abortion Is on the Ballot This Election Day

This fall's election will do more than decide who resides in the White House and which party controls the House and Senate.

In 10 states, citizens will vote on constitutional amendments that, if passed, would legalize abortion through all nine months of pregnancy and dramatically loosen regulations, pro-lifers say.

The proposals are on the ballot in blue states such as New York and Maryland and in red states such as Missouri and Nebraska.

Following is a list of the 10 states, with information about each ballot initiative.

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  • 1. Arizona (Proposition 139)

    Proposition 139 would amend the Arizona Constitution to create a fundamental right to abortion. Catholic Bishops of Arizona is urging a "no" vote. "If passed, this initiative threatens to enshrine a constitutional right to virtually unrestricted abortion in Arizona," the bishops said in a statement. "What makes a constitutional amendment especially grave is that our own Arizona legislators could lose the ability to regulate abortion in any meaningful way, leaving us with the potential for what would likely become nearly unrestricted abortion." Arizona law currently permits abortions up until 15 weeks of pregnancy.

  • 2. Colorado (Amendment 79)

    Amendment 79 would change the Colorado Constitution to guarantee a right to an abortion and prohibit governments from denying or impeding an abortion within the state. It also would allow taxpayer dollars for abortion. The initiative requires a 55 percent majority for passage. The Colorado-based Focus on the Family is encouraging citizens to vote "no." If passed, it would ban parental notice before a minor gets an abortion, allow abortions in the seventh, eighth, and ninth months of pregnancy on healthy mothers and healthy babies, and force taxpayers to pay for abortions, Focus on the Family said.

  • 3. Florida (Amendment 4)

    Amendment 4 would change the Florida Constitution to restrict governments from restricting abortion "before viability or when necessary to protect the patient's health, as determined by the patient's healthcare provider." The Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops is encouraging Floridians to vote "no." It and other pro-life organizations say the language on a "patient's health" would allow late-term abortions. The amendment legalizes "full-term abortion with no protections for the preborn child, including when the child is capable of feeling pain," the bishops said in a statement. "This proposed amendment to our state constitution would prohibit all restrictions on abortion before viability and create a broad exception that any healthcare provider could exploit to allow abortion up to birth." Amendment 4 requires a 60 percent vote for passage.

  • 4. Maryland (Question 1)

    Question 1 would amend the Maryland Constitution to guarantee an "individual's fundamental right to reproductive freedom, including but not limited to the ability to make and effectuate decisions to prevent, continue, or end the individual's pregnancy." Further, the amendment prevents the state from denying that right, either "directly or indirectly." Maryland Right to Life is urging citizens to vote "no" on the amendment, warning it would create a "state constitutional right to late-term abortion through birth." Further, the amendment threatens parental rights and would force taxpayers to pay for abortions, Maryland Right to Life said.

  • 5. Missouri (Amendment 3)

    Amendment 3 would amend the Missouri Constitution to establish a "fundamental right to reproductive freedom," including abortion. Further, it would prohibit the government from interfering with that right. Missouri Right to Life is urging Missourians to vote "no" on Amendment 3, warning it would allow abortion "for all 9 months from conception to live birth" and would eliminate parental consent laws. Further, it would allow for taxpayer funding of abortion, Missouri Right to Life said.

  • 6. Montana (CI-128)

    CI-128 would amend the Montana Constitution to "provide a right to make and carry out decisions about one's own pregnancy, including the right to abortion," according to the ballot language. Further, it would prohibit the government from denying or burdening the right to abortion before fetal viability and would prohibit the government from denying or burdening access to an abortion when a doctor determines it is necessary to protect the patient's life or health, the ballot language says. Catholic Bishops of Montana are urging a "no" vote, saying the amendment "would greatly expand the practice of legalized abortion in Montana, abolishing the limited restrictions currently in place and opening the door to a host of practices that violate fundamental rights to life and dignity." The amendment would permit late-term abortion and "abortion by dismemberment of children growing in the womb," the bishops say.

  • 7. Nebraska (Initiative 439)

    Initiative 439 would amend the Nebraska Constitution to guarantee "a fundamental right to abortion until fetal viability, or when needed to protect the life or health of the pregnant patient, without interference from the state or its political subdivisions." Nebraska Right to Life is urging Nebraskans to vote "no," saying Initiative 439 would allow "abortion up to the moment of birth" and would eliminate "all current pro-life laws, including those protecting women's safety and the ban on partial-birth abortion." Meanwhile, Nebraska Right to Life is urging a "yes" vote on a separate measure, Initiative 434, which would protect the state's 12-week pro-life law and would amend the Nebraska Constitution so that it states: "unborn children shall be protected from abortion in the second and third trimesters."

  • 8. Nevada (Question 6)

    Question 6 would amend the Nevada Constitution to guarantee "a fundamental right to abortion" until fetal viability or when "needed to protect the life or health of the pregnant patient." Pro-life groups say the "health of the pregnant patient" language would allow abortion through all nine months of pregnancy. Nevada Right to Life is encouraging citizens to vote "no," warning the amendment would allow abortion without limits. Further, the organization said, the amendment would: 1) allow abortions to be performed through the ninth month, 2) allow abortions to be performed by non-doctors, 3) eliminate parental notifications for minors, and 4), eliminate health and safety protections for women.

  • 9. New York (Proposal 1)

    Proposal 1 would amend the New York Constitution to state that no person shall be denied rights based on pregnancy, pregnancy outcomes, and reproductive healthcare and autonomy." Although not solely about abortion -- it also mentions sexual orientation and gender identity -- the amendment would impact abortion law. The New York State Catholic Conference said the amendment is a "wolf in sheep's clothing." "The measure would, effectively, permanently legalize abortion without restriction and up until the moment of birth in New York," the bishops warned. "Aside from being redundant in a state that already has stripped away all abortion limitations, the amendment would render impossible any change to the law if the hearts and minds of New Yorkers were ever to shift toward protecting the child in the womb."

  • 10. South Dakota (Amendment G)

    Amendment G would change the South Dakota Constitution and add a trimester framework, prohibiting any regulation on first-trimester abortions but more regulations in the second and third. For example, the text says, "After the end of the second trimester, the State may regulate or prohibit abortion, except when abortion is necessary, in the medical judgment of the woman's physician, to preserve the life and health of the pregnant woman." Pro-life organizations are urging citizens to vote "no," saying the "life and health language" creates a legal loophole. Health, for example, could include mental health. No on G, the organization rallying opposition, said the text's language "legalizes abortions through all nine months of pregnancy, including after the baby is viable outside the womb" and would strip parental rights.

    Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.