Record-Breaking Number of Reproductive Health Ballot Initiatives

Record-Breaking Number of Reproductive Health Ballot Initiatives
Sophia Levin | July 21, 2022

This November, voters will decide on reproductive access amendments in six states—the highest number ever for abortion-related ballot initiatives. Three restrict access, while the other three are the first proposals supported by pro-choice organizers since 1992. Restrictive abortion amendments have been regularly circulated since 1982. Here are the 2022 ballot measures:



Reproductive Healthcare Initiatives MapData from Ballotpedia | Map by Sophia Levin
Initiatives on the 2022 Ballot

California
Residents can vote to establish a constitutional right to reproductive freedom, including abortion access and contraception decisions. The vote in state legislatures was split across party lines, but it went through with California’s substantial Democratic majority.

Kansas
A “yes” vote agrees that Kansas’s constitution does not establish a right to abortion nor require the state government to fund them. It also allows the legislature to pass abortion-related laws. Residents had to be registered to vote by July 12 to vote on the initiative. A 2021 poll found that 61 percent of residents agree that “women are in a better position than politicians” to make their abortion decisions, but it did not ask about the proposed amendment.

Kentucky
This measure would establish that there is no constitutional right to an abortion or its public funding. Voters must be registered by Monday, October 17.

Michigan
Michiganders will decide if a right to reproductive freedom should be guaranteed. The constitutional amendment would prohibit abortion bans prior to fetal viability and in cases of maternal mortality risk. The Right to Reproductive Freedom Initiative enshrines the ability to make and act on “decisions about all matters relating to pregnancy,” including “contraception, sterilization, abortion care, miscarriage management, and infertility care.” To get on the ballot, the initiative needed 425,059 signatures—10 percent of the votes cast in the gubernatorial election—which it surpassed by more than 300,000. The petition was submitted on July 11 and is expected to be on ballots this November.


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https://feminist.org/news/record-breaking-number-of-reproductive-health-ballot-initiatives/