Abortion Rights Measures Fail in 3 States, Pass in 6

Reproductive rights didn't just factor into the presidential race: The issue of abortion was on the ballot in 10 states on Tuesday, and results were mixed. A look at partial results:

• Florida: Voters rejected an abortion rights amendment and kept in place Gov. Ron DeSantis' 6-week ban, per the AP. The initiative failed to reach the required 60% threshold for passage—it was at 57% with nearly all votes counted, per the Hill. The measure faced an uphill battle in the red state where Donald Trump, a Florida resident, said during the campaign that he would vote against it. The Hill notes that Florida is now the first state to defeat an abortion rights amendment since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.
• Missouri. Voters have approved a constitutional amendment that will overturn one of the country's strictest abortion bans, reports the AP, The New York Times notes that Missouri was the first state to enact an abortion ban after Roe v. Wade was overturned, and with the vote enshrining a "fundamental right to reproductive freedom" in the state constitution, it is the first to overturn a ban through a ballot measure initiated by citizens.

• Maryland: The AP reports that Maryland voters have approved a constitutional amendment protecting the right to abortion. The amendment states that it protects "the ability to make and effectuate decisions to prevent, continue, or end one's own pregnancy," per the New York Times. With almost half the vote counted, it has around 75% support, the Times reports.
• New York: The right to abortion has been approved by New York voters by a majority of more than 70%, NBC News reports. The measure adds language to the New York Bill of Rights stating that people cannot be denied rights based on factors "including sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, pregnancy outcomes, and reproductive healthcare and autonomy."
• Colorado. In Colorado, a measure to add abortion rights to the state constitution passed the 55% threshold, the AP reports. Amendment 79 also repeals a 40-year-old ban on the use of state and local government funding for abortion services, reports the Denver Post.
• South Dakota: South Dakota became the second state, after Florida earlier on election night, to see abortion opponents prevail on a ballot measure following the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the AP reports. The state currently has one of the country's strictest abortion bans, per NPR, with the only exception being to save the life of the mother. The proposed amendment would have allowed abortion during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, but would have allowed restrictions on abortions after the first trimester, and because of that, the AP reports "most national abortion-rights groups did not support it."
• Nevada: A ballot measure to enshrine abortion rights in Nevada's constitution passed, but voters must approve it again in 2026 in order for the constitution to actually be amended, the AP reports.
• Nebraska: The situation was a little more confusing here, thanks to competing ballot measures, but the anti-abortion side ultimately won on both. One ballot measure that would have protected abortion until the point of viability failed. Another, which passed, enshrines the state's current 12-week abortion ban into the state constitution, and allows for the possibility that stricter regulations could be instituted later.
• Arizona: The state voted to expand abortion access, protecting it up to 24 weeks.

Results in just one state, Montana, are still pending. (More Election 2024 stories.)