WASHINGTON (AP) — Voters defeated a measure to add abortion rights to the Florida state constitution on Tuesday but sided with abortion-rights advocates on ballot measures in Maryland and New York. Results were still pending in seven other states with abortion measures on the ballot. The Florida result was a political win for Republican Gov.
Ron DeSantis that will keep in place the state’s ban on most abortions after the first six weeks of pregnancy. It’s the first ballot measure victory for abortion opponents in any state since the U.S.
Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, a decision that ended the nationwide right to abortion and opened the door to bans in most GOP-controlled states, protections in Democrat-dominated ones and new political and legal battles across the country. In Maryland, the abortion rights amendment is a legal change that won't make an immediate difference to abortion access in a state that already allows it.
A New York equal rights law that abortion rights group say will bolster abortion rights also passed. It doesn’t contain the word “abortion” but rather bans discrimination on the basis of “pregnancy outcomes, and reproductive healthcare and autonomy.” The Florida measure failed to clear the required 60% voter approval threshold to pass constitutional amendments in Florida.
Most states require a simple majority. Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the national anti-abortion group SBA Pro-Life America, said in a statement that .