Voters defeated a proposed amendment to Missouri’s constitution that would have reimposed restrictions on most abortions. The vote Tuesday essentially reaffirmed voters' decision from two years ago, when they became the first in the nation to undo an existing abortion ban by approving an abortion-rights amendment.
The Republican-led Legislature then referred a new, less restrictive version of an abortion ban to this year’s ballot. The measure would have allowed abortions only for medical emergencies and fetal anomalies, or in cases of rape or incest up to 12 weeks of pregnancy. It also would have amended the constitution to prohibit certain medical procedures for transgender minors.
Abortion-rights advocates, led by national progressive groups, heavily outspent abortion foes in a successful campaign to defeat the Missouri ballot measure.
In Virginia, a voter-approved measure creates a " fundamental right to reproductive freedom" in the state constitution, ensuring that abortions can occur during the first two trimesters of pregnancy. The amendment also creates a right to contraception and fertility care, among other things.
But voters in Republican-leaning Idaho on Tuesday defeated a ballot measure that would have created abortion rights in state law. Current Idaho law bans abortions unless necessary to save the life of a pregnant woman, or during the first trimester of pregnancy in cases where rape or incest has been reported to law enforcement.
Transgender restrictions pass in some states
Nebraska voters approved an amendment to add existing medical restrictions against gender mutilations to the state constitution. And in Arizona, voters passed a measure that extends public school sports restrictions to private schools.
Voters in Colorado and Washington also were considering measures restricting males in female sports and restrictions on medical procedures.
Most Republican-led states already bar biological males from female school sports teams. In the Democratic-led states of Colorado and Washington, the measures were placed on the ballot by citizen initiatives. A second ballot question in Colorado would ban some gender mutilations medical treatments for minors.
Several states give mixed results to voter ID mandates
Though Trump’s push for nationwide voter ID mandates remains stalled in Congress, citizen activists bypassed Democratic-led state legislatures to place new voter ID requirements on the ballot in California, Colorado and Nevada.
Opponents in California successfully campaigned against the amendment by linking it to Trump. The defeated California measure would have required a government-issued ID to vote in person or the last four digits of that identification number to vote by mail. The vast majority of California’s ballots are cast by mail.
Colorado voters also defeated a measure that would have required people voting by mail to include the last four digits of a government-issued identification number.
In Ohio and North Carolina, Republican-led legislatures referred measures to the ballot enhancing existing voter ID requirements by placing them in the state constitution. The measures passed in both states. A voter ID amendment also passed in Nevada.
