Multiple US states extend abortion rights, while Florida measure fails

Nevin Al Sukari - Sana'a - The ballot initiatives, which ran in parallel to the US presidential election, come more than two years after the Supreme Court overturned the federal right to the procedure, leaving the matter up to states. — AFP pic

WASHINGTON, Nov 6 — Residents in a handful of US states extended or enshrined into law the right to an abortion, results showed today, while voters in Florida defeated a measure that would have increased access.

The ballot initiatives, which ran in parallel to the US presidential election, come more than two years after the Supreme Court overturned the federal right to the procedure, leaving the matter up to states.

A total of 10 states had measures on the ballot—nearly all giving voters the chance to expand access or enshrine abortion rights into law.

In Arizona, Colorado, Maryland, Missouri and New York voters cast their ballots favorably for pro-abortion rights measures, while several other states’ results had yet to be called.

Women in Arizona, for example, will now have the right to an abortion until fetal viability, usually around 24 weeks, under an amendment to the state constitution, whereas the procedure had previously been banned after 15 weeks.

The change will be even more dramatic in Missouri, which had one of the strictest abortion bans in the country with no exceptions for rape or incest.

Voters in the state approved an amendment to the constitution to allow pregnancies to be terminated until fetal viability.

Conservative Florida gave voters the opportunity to also allow the procedure until the same limit, which would have overturned the state’s ban on abortion after six weeks.

However, the state set an incredibly high bar for its initiative to pass: At least 60 percent of votes cast were necessary.

US media reported that the measure, known as Amendment 4, received 57 percent of the vote.

The Florida defeat marked the first pro-abortion rights ballot measure to fail since the US Supreme Court in June 2022 overturned Roe v Wade, the ruling that had given women a federal right to the procedure.

“Today’s victory in Florida is unprecedented—and should be viewed as the start of a revolution for women’s healthcare in America,” Christina Francis of the American Association of Pro-life OB/GYNs said in a statement.

‘Reproductive freedom’

Advocates had hoped Florida, which is surrounded by states with stringent restrictions, could have once again become a destination for those seeking the procedure in the US southeast.

Abortion rights proponents argue that many women still do not know they are pregnant at six weeks.

“As the majority of Florida voters made clear tonight, they want their reproductive freedom back,” Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights, said in a statement.

“Due to the high 60 per cent threshold and the state’s disinformation campaign, they must continue to live with the fear, uncertainty, and denial of care caused by the reversal of Roe,” she added.

Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, who positioned herself as a defender of reproductive and abortion rights, made a point of highlighting the plight of a number of women who had suffered serious complications or even death due to abortion restrictions after the Supreme Court decision.

Those cases often were the result of health care providers who were reluctant to intervene in the case of miscarriages or other problems for fear of being accused of performing an illegal abortion.

The right to an abortion was dismantled by a Supreme Court shaped under former president Donald Trump, who appointed three justices to the panel.

Since the federal right to the procedure was overturned, many women have been forced to travel to other states to have an abortion. — AFP