WASHINGTON -- Voters in nine states are deciding whether their state constitutions should guarantee a right to abortion, weighing ballot measures that are expected to spur turnout for a range of crucial races. Passing certain amendments in Arizona, Florida, Missouri, Nebraska and South Dakota likely would lead to undoing bans or restrictions that currently block varying levels of abortion access to more than 7 million women of childbearing age who live in those states. The future legality and availability of abortion hinges not only on ballot measures, as policies could shift depending on who controls Congress and the presidency.
Same with state governments — including legislatures that pursue new laws, state supreme courts that determine the laws' constitutionality, attorneys general who decide whether to defend them and district attorneys who enforce them. If all the abortion rights measures pass, "it’s a sign of how much of a juggernaut support for reproductive rights has become,” said Mary Ziegler, a professor at the University of California Davis School of Law and an expert on the history of reproductive rights in the U.S.
“If some of them fail," she added, "then you’re going to see some conservatives looking for guidance to see what the magic ingredient was that made it possible for conservatives to stem the tide.” Abortion rights advocates have prevailed on all seven measures that have appeared since 2022, when the U.S.
Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade .