American voters who faced the abortion issue at the polls this year came from states with varying laws related to abortion.
The questions they were asked to decide also varied, but most plans proposed establishing a state right to abortion up to fetal viability (around the 24th week of pregnancy).
In previous election cycles, campaigns to restore or protect abortion access using state-level ballot initiatives have been successful, including in reliably conservative states like Kansas.
But the election results largely solidified the reality that American women have vastly different access to abortion depending on where they live.
Voters in Nebraska and South Dakota rejected bills seeking to expand access to abortion, while in Maryland and Colorado, where abortion is now legal, voters approved measures that would enshrine the right to abortion care in their state constitutions.
In Colorado, the amendment also expands access to abortion, allowing abortions to be covered under government health insurance plans.
In Montana and Nevada, where abortion is now legal up to the point of viability, voters approved bills codifying that right into the constitution.
In Nevada, a majority of voters would have to approve the measure again within two years for the amendment to become law.
New York, where abortion is legal until viable, approved an amendment banning discrimination based on pregnancy or reproductive health.
In Nebraska, voters faced two dueling abortion bills. They rejected a bill that would have made abortion a right until viability is possible and approved the state’s current rule banning abortion after 12 weeks of pregnancy, with some exceptions, including incest, rape and to save the life of the mother.
