Florida votes against amendment restoring abortion rights as Missouri overturns near-total ban

Source: The Guardian/US

Abortion rights supporters celebrated a string of victories on Tuesday night, as several states voted to enshrine protections for the procedure into their constitutions.

However, they lost what was arguably their hardest fight, after Florida voters defeated a measure to roll back the state’s six-week abortion ban, breaking a streak of ballot-measure victories kicked off when Roe v Wade was overturned by the US supreme court in 2022.

But abortion rights won in four other states, with Missouri voting to overturn the state’s near-total ban on abortion – a post-Roe first – and establish a constitutional right to abortion until fetal viability. Ballot measures in New York, Colorado and Maryland also passed, expanding their protections for abortion and cementing those states’ status as abortion havens.

“The people of Missouri – be they Democrat, Republican, or independent – have resoundingly declared that they don’t want politicians involved in their private medical decisions,” said Rachel Sweet, the manager of the campaign of the Missouri ballot measure, in a statement.

A total of 10 states voted on abortion-related ballot initiatives on Tuesday. Results are forthcoming in five states.



Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/nov/05/florida-abortion-ballot-ban-measure-amendment