This November, many voters across the country could take to the polls to determine the future of abortion access in their state, with organizers working to secure a wave of measures on the 2024 ballot aimed at restoring or protecting the right to an abortion – and a few aimed at restricting it.
Abortion rights advocates hope the effort will restore the issue of reproductive health access to the people, after the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, eliminating the national right to an abortion.
Most of the proposed ballot measures aim to enshrine the right to an abortion in state constitutions.?They follow a series of restrictive trigger laws that went into effect following the Dobbs decision, along with abortion policies that were handed down by politicians or decided by state supreme courts since the decision. Some are up against a handful of counter measures aimed at restricting abortion access, though similar restrictive measures have failed in the few states where votes have been held in the past couple of years.
Abortion measures on the ballot in November
Nine states —?Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New York and South Dakota — have already secured abortion measures on the 2024 ballot. All eyes are on Florida, which has served as a critical access point for people seeking services in a region of the country that is fast becoming an abortion care desert. A six-week abortion ban replaced the state’s 15-week ban on May 1.
After organizers secured the New York Equal Rights Amendment on the 2024 ballot, it was briefly struck from the ballot by a state judge. State Attorney General Letitia James appealed that decision, and a state appeals court restored the measure to the ballot in June.
A measure in Missouri?that?seeks to broadly protect reproductive care?has made it onto the ballot, while?an opposing?measure to permanently ban abortion never made it out of the state’s legislative session.
States with potential abortion ballot measures
Organizers in other states across the country are working to secure funding, gather signatures and jump through the legal hoops necessary to secure abortion measures on the 2024 ballot.
In most states, the process entails collecting a certain number of signatures by a designated deadline this summer, while others require the additional step of having the ballot language approved by a state court, according to campaign organizers. The abortion rights measures are largely backed by coalitions of reproductive health advocates, many of which are fundraising to secure the money to support the campaigns.
Multiple states have seen proposed measures protecting abortion access up to the point of viability, which doctors say is around 24 weeks into pregnancy.
A number of measures that have been proposed by states allow for abortion past the point of viability when deemed necessary by a doctor to protect a pregnant person’s life or health — though doctors and lawmakers have struggled to define exactly what type of medical emergencies would be allowed under the exception.
A proposed measure to restrict abortion access in Pennsylvania seeks to establish that public funding can’t be used for the procedure, though it is unlikely to pass the state legislature.
Organizers in Arkansas collected and submitted signatures for a proposed abortion rights measure, but the Secretary of State rejected their petition, saying the organizers did not correctly submit paperwork regarding paid canvassers. The state’s supreme court sided with the secretary, ensuring the measure will not be on the ballot this November.
States that have voted on abortion post-Dobbs
Seven states have already seen a vote on abortion access since Roe v. Wade was overturned, and reproductive health advocates have been heartened by the overwhelming support for abortion access among voters. Every measure aimed at protecting abortion access has passed, while all measures to restrict it have failed.
While support for abortion access is considered a given in states like California, organizers say these votes offer an important layer of legal protection for patients and providers – and send a message to elected officials about what voters want.
CNN’s Molly English contributed to this report.