The decisive mid-term elections in the United States also put on the table referendums on different electoral measures on the protection or criminalization of the right to abortion in five states. Key votes after last June the US Supreme Court abolished the national right to terminate pregnancy in force for half a century.
In California, Michigan and Vermont, a majority has voted in favor of protecting the right to terminate pregnancy, while the conservative state of Kentucky awaits the closure of the results, although it is on its way to rejecting a measure that was intended to emphasize that its constitution does not contemplate abortion. Finally, in the also conservative state of Montana, a vote is being taken to extend protection in what is known as the live births law, to improve care for babies who survive complex deliveries or failed abortions. In August, Kansas became the first state to vote on abortion and voted massively in its favor.
Voters in a swing state like Michigan have backed a ballot initiative, known as Proposal 3, which declares abortion a right protected by the state constitution and thus shields it. Reproductive rights groups have said such protection will guarantee access to abortion in the future in the state.
So much so that Michigan may become a preferred destination for people from Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia who need abortions as long as these states maintain their extreme restrictions on termination of pregnancy.
Conservative Republicans in Michigan had sought to allow a 1931 abortion ban to be enforced after the Roe v Wade ruling guaranteeing abortion rights was overturned this past June. But a judge ruled Sept. 7 that the ban, which made no exceptions for rape or incest, violated the state constitution and could not be enforced.
Voters in California, the most populous US state, have overwhelmingly approved Proposition 1, a proposal to enshrine the right to abortion in their constitution.
The endorsed initiative taking advantage of the mid-term legislatures enshrines a years-long effort by reproductive rights advocates in the progressive-leaning state to protect the right to abortion, including providing funding to help people living in states where the procedure has been limited or prohibited from seeking care in California.
Something similar is happening in the Democratic state of Vermont, where voters have voted in favor of the Reproductive Freedom Amendment, that is, including the right to abortion in the constitution. As required by state law, the ballot measure had already passed twice during this Democratic-controlled term.
The measure has been the culmination of a series of actions to shore up abortion rights, including a new state reproductive rights law, which was launched in 2019 after former President Donald Trump appointed Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh. for the US Supreme Court, thus consolidating its conservative majority.
Unlike Michigan, California and Vermont, what was voted on in Kentucky was a ballot measure that sought to amend the state constitution to explicitly include in the Magna Carta that the right to abortion is neither protected nor recognized. Although the results are not yet closed, with more than 80% scrutinized, the opponents to the initiative are prevailing.
In any case, in this conservative state, current laws only allow abortion in a few exceptions if the mother's health is at serious risk.
Finally, in Montana, voters were asked about the so-called live birth law, a rule that would have declared any baby born alive at any point in gestation a legal person. Based on the belief among some anti-abortion activists that babies have been left to die after abortion, childbirth or extraction, such as a C-section, the measure asserts that all babies born alive are considered legal persons in the state. .
The norm would have criminalized health professionals and that is that doctors who had not attended to those live births would have been fined up to 50,000 dollars and would face prison sentences of up to 20 years. Limited data on these types of incidents suggest that they are rare and likely involve fetuses with severe conditions that make them unlikely to survive.
The first projections of results indicate that the measure, in this case, would also be rejected.
