Republican Heartland Embraces Abortion Rights Amid National Fight

Voters in seven states approved ballot amendments establishing a right to abortion in their state constitutions, continuing a broad repudiation of the abortion bans enacted since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

Missouri, which was the first state to officially enact an abortion ban after Roe was overturned in 2022, became the first state where voters ended a ban at the ballot box, with 52 percent approving the measure. A similar amendment passed by 57 percent in Montana, another Republican-controlled state. In two battleground states, Nevada and Arizona, measures to enshrine a right to abortion passed, with more than 60 percent of the vote for each.

But the abortion rights movement also hit its limits, stalling in what had been a winning streak on ballot measures post-Roe, as voters in three Republican-controlled states, Florida, South Dakota and Nebraska, rejected amendments that would have established a constitutional right to abortion.

Even as they hailed their victories, abortion rights supporters warned that the second Trump administration could use federal power to essentially invalidate the new state-level protections.

President-elect Donald J. Trump boasted on the campaign trail of having overturned Roe — he appointed the three justices who helped swing the court majority. And anti-abortion activists have laid plans for a second Trump administration to use existing federal statutes to ban abortion pills, and to use the 14th Amendment to establish fetal personhood, which would effectively criminalize abortion at any stage…   of pregnancy. A Republican-controlled Congress could look to pass a federal abortion ban.

Opponents of abortion rights looked at the results and saw victory. “Supported by the abortion industry and its allies, Harris and Walz campaigned with fanatical fervor on abortion — and the voters rejected them,” said Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life.

And Democrats who hoped that support for ballot measures would also lift their candidates to victory were largely disappointed.

The groups backing the winning measures, however, said the victories even in states that went solidly for Mr. Trump were a clear signal that most Americans, regardless of party, age or gender, do not want the government restricting abortion.

Republican Heartland Embraces Abortion Rights Amid National Fight