Supporters lose in Florida, but win in three other states

ABORTION RIGHTS

Protesters join thousands marching around the Arizona Capitol in Phoenix, protesting the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, June 24, 2022. ROSS D. FRANKLIN — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE

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By Geoff Mulvihill and Christine Fernando

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON >> 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 Colorado, Maryland and New York.

Results were still pending in six other states with abortion measures on the ballot.

Most voters supported the Florida measure, but it fell short of the required 60% to pass constitutional amendments in the state. Most states require a simple majority. The 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.

Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the national anti-abortion group SBA Pro-Life America, said in a statement that the result is “a momentous victory for life in Florida and for our entire country,” praising DeSantis for leading the charge against the measure.

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.

The Colorado measure exceeded the 55% of support required to pass. Besides enshrining access, it also undoes an earlier amendment that barred using state and local government funding for abortion, opening the possibility of state Medicaid and government employee insurance plans covering care.

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.” Sasha Ahuja, campaign director of New Yorkers for Equal Rights, called the result “a monumental victory for all New Yorkers” and a vote against opponents who she says used misleading parental rights and anti-trans messages to thwart the measure.

Until Tuesday, abortion rights advocates had prevailed on all seven measures that have appeared on statewide ballots since the fall of Roe.

Currently, 13 states are enforcing bans at all stages of pregnancy, with some exceptions. Four more bar abortion in most cases after about six weeks of pregnancy — before women often realize they’re pregnant.