by Natalia Mittelstadt
In November, in a high-turnout presidential election, at least nine states will vote on pro-abortion constitutional amendments. Some states will face lawsuits from conservatives and pro-life groups.
Since the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health Organizationwho overthrew Roe v. Wade and sent the issue of abortion legalization back to the states, with votes underway in some states on whether to ensure abortion is codified in state constitutions.
Some believe pro-abortion ballot measures will lend a hand them boost Democratic voter turnout in the November election. In New York, for example, a ballot measure aimed at protecting abortion rights is being sent to voters because “it was very popular with candidates who sided and encouraged people to vote ‘yes’ in the referendum” in Michigan in 2022, according to the campaign director for New Yorkers for Equal Rights.
In contrast, Kelsey Pritchard, director of public affairs for Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, said: Only news on Tuesday “Some Democrats are under the illusion that putting abortion on the ballot will ensure victory in November, but evenPoliticalsays they won’t win the election this way.
“In states where abortion will be on the ballot, Republicans have an opportunity to show how extreme proposed amendments align with the Democrats’ agenda for abortion in all trimesters in every state,” she continued. “Republicans will win by emphasizing support for pro-life protections, communicating on the issue with compassion, and contrasting their positions with the Democrats’ deeply unpopular agenda for unrestricted abortion in the seventh, eighth, and ninth months of pregnancy.”
According to The survey may A Gallup poll found that 35 percent of Americans believe abortion should be legal under all circumstances, 50 percent believe abortion should be legal only in certain circumstances, and 12 percent believe abortion should be illegal under all circumstances.
Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada and South Dakota have referendum measures which, if passed in November, would enshrine abortion rights in state constitutions.
The Thomas More Society brought lawsuit against a vote in Missouri last week on behalf of state lawmakers for creating a vaguely abortion-friendly “super right.” lawyers say that the “fundamental right to reproductive freedom” that the amendment proposes is “largely undefined” and therefore violates state law and the Missouri Constitution.
Meanwhile, pro-abortion group sues Missouri Secretary of State responded to his office’s description of the legislative initiative, arguing that the language was “intentionally contentious and likely to create bias against the proposed initiative,” the Associated Press reported.
Currently, in the state of Missouri, abortion is only allowed when necessary to protect the life of the mother.
In South Dakota legislative measure According to the AP, the bill would allow for the regulation or prohibition of abortions in the third trimester of pregnancy “unless the abortion is necessary, in the opinion of the woman’s physician, to protect the life or health of the pregnant woman.”
A pro-life group is suing to try to remove the initiative from the November ballot, alleging irregularities involving those circulating the petition. The group’s lawsuit was dismissed last month, but the ruling has been appealed to the South Dakota Supreme Court.
South Dakota Law currently states that it is a crime to have an abortion “unless there is an adequate and reasonable medical assessment that carrying out the abortion is necessary to preserve the life of the pregnant woman.”
In November, New York voters will have a chance to decide Vote on the Equal Rights Amendment which would expand the state constitution’s ban on discrimination to include ethnicity, national origin, age, disability “or sex, including sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, pregnancy outcomes, and reproductive health care and autonomy.”
Last Friday, a New York judge ruled that state election officials would not be forced to include “abortion” and “LGBT” in an explanation of the measure after Democrats sought to add that language, AP reported.
ERA supporters say the constitutional amendment proposal would protect access to abortion by expanding state anti-discrimination protections. But the judge said the potential effects of the amendment on abortion would have to be decided by the courts once it is ratified.
In addition to the states mentioned above, Arkansas also came close to organizing a pro-abortion ballot initiative for November. Last Thursday, The Arkansas Supreme Court has approved state rejection of pro-abortion referendum initiative. The state rejected the initiative because organizers allegedly failed to provide proper documentation for hired signature collectors.
The bill would allow abortion on demand in the first 20 weeks of pregnancy, as well as abortion thereafter in cases of rape, incest, a threat to the mother’s health or life-threatening fetal abnormalities.
Susan B. Anthony Pritchard of Pro-Life America said Only news Tuesday that conservatives could succeed in defeating a pro-abortion ballot measure this fall. “GOP leaders in red states should follow the example of Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has been a champion in exposing the reality of the abortion measure in Florida,” Pritchard said.
“The only way a Republican state abortion ballot measure will pass is if voters are unaware that these amendments eliminate parental rights, strip women of health care, provide taxpayer-funded abortion and — worst of all — perpetuate abortion in all trimesters. Through carefully crafted language, this ballot measure will allow elective abortion even in the seventh, eighth and ninth months of pregnancy,” she said.
“These amendments will increase the number of late-term abortions in our country, where every year “50,000 unborn babies are already aborted after 15 weeks, even though science shows the baby can feel pain, and up to 10,000 are aborted at 21 weeks or later,” she added.Very According to the Guttmacher Institute, overdue pregnancy abortions are a planned procedure and often are associated with coercion, indecision and abandonment of the partner, not with health emergencies.”
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Natalia Mittelstadt is a reporter for Just the News.
Photo “Vote” by Phil Roeder. Licensed under CC BY 2.0.
