WASHINGTON -- Abortion rights advocates prevailed on seven ballot measures across the U.S. in Tuesday's election and lost on three.
The losses are the first on statewide reproductive rights ballot measures anywhere in the U.S. since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v.
Wade in 2022, a ruling that struck down the nearly 50-year nationwide right to abortion, proving that abortion opponents can win on ballot measures. There were firsts on the other sides, too: Three amendments call for rolling back abortion bans, including one in Missouri that bars it at all stages of pregnancy with exceptions only under limited circumstances to save the life of the woman. Here's a look at takeaways from the results.
Missouri is the most populous state where a ballot measure could roll back a current ban on abortions at all stages of pregnancy. But the work isn’t done there. Planned Parenthood of the Great Plains filed in a state court Wednesday seeking to invalidate Missouri’s abortion ban and several laws that regulate the care.
The Missouri amendment, which is to take effect Dec. 5, does not specifically override any state laws. Instead, the measure left it to advocates to ask courts to knock down bans that they believe would now be unconstitutional.
Clinics had stopped providing abortions in Missouri even before the state’s ban took effect in 2022. They said that a list of regulations made it impossible for them to operate. In its legal filing, the Planned Parenthood affiliate that cove.
