WASHINGTON (AP) — Voters in Missouri cleared the way to undo one of the nation's most restrictive abortion bans in one of seven victories for abortion rights advocates, while Florida, Nebraska and South Dakota defeated similar constitutional amendments, leaving bans in place. Abortion rights amendments also passed in Arizona, Colorado, Maryland and Montana. Nevada voters also approved an amendment, but they'll need to pass it again it 2026 for it to take effect.
Another that bans discrimination on the basis of “pregnancy outcomes” prevailed in New York. The results include firsts for the abortion landscape, which underwent a seismic shift in 2022 when the U.S.
Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, a ruling that ended a nationwide right to abortion and cleared the way for bans to take effect in most Republican-controlled states. They also came in the same election that Republican Donald Trump won the presidency.
Among his inconsistent positions on abortion has been an insistence that it's an issue best left to the states. Still, the president can have a major impact on abortion policy through executive action. In the meantime, Missouri is positioned to be the first state where a vote will undo a ban on abortion at all stages of pregnancy, with an amendment that would allow lawmakers to restrict abortions only past the point of a fetus’ viability — usually considered after 21 weeks, although there’s no exact defined time frame.
But the ban, and other restrictive law.