Majority of Voting States Strengthen Abortion Rights

U.S. voters in 10 states headed to the polls on Tuesday to decide on a number of constitutional amendments to protect or expand abortion rights. According to projections by NBC News, a majority of these voted in favor of strengthening abortion rights within their states.

Voters in Arizona and Missouri backed measures to protect abortion rights until fetal viability. At the same time, voters in Colorado, Maryland, Montana and New York supported measures to formally enshrine existing rights related to abortion into the constitution, making them more steadfast as they are harder to change by lawmakers in the future. In New York, voters supported an amendment which will ban discrimination over pregnancy or reproductive health.

Florida fell short, however, of the 60 percent of support needed to overturn an abortion ban for women more than six weeks pregnant or to allow for abortions when necessary to protect the patient's health "as determined by the patient's healthcare provider".

In South Dakota too, a proposal to protect the right to abortion in the first trimester was also rejected. If it had been passed, the measure would have also allowed for the state to permit abortion in the second or third trimester if a physician determined the care would be necessary to preserve life or health.

Voters in Nebraska approved measures banning abortions after the first trimester, with exceptions for rape, incest or health emergencies. The results are not yet in on whether voters will approve a second, competing amendment granting the right to abortion before fetal viability (first and second trimester), which would then protect abortions in the first trimester only. This would be an improvement over the current, non-protected 12-week ban in the state.