In one of the most-watched ballot measures on the issue, Michigan residents also voted to amend their state’s constitution to protect abortion rights. The initiative appeared on the ballot after surviving a Republican-led challenge on grounds including concerns about the amendment’s spacing and formatting.
In a move that could aid efforts by abortion rights groups to overturn two abortion bans, Kentucky voters rejected a proposed amendment to the state constitution that would have explicitly stated it contains no right to an abortion. Such an amendment likely would have thwarted efforts to overturn Kentucky’s two abortions bans.
Those laws took effect in response to this summer’s U.S. Supreme Court decision, cutting off abortion access in the commonwealth. Abortion rights advocates are challenging those laws, and oral arguments are scheduled before the Kentucky Supreme Court in about a week. In a statement, officials with Planned Parenthood’s Kentucky chapter pledged to continue their legal fight.
In Montana, votes were still being counted on what anti-abortion-rights groups describe as a “Born Alive” measure that would require healthcare providers to treat infants born alive at any stage of development, including after an attempted abortion. Reproductive rights groups, who opposed the initiative, noted that Montana law already prohibits infanticide.
In an effort to harness the energy unleashed by this summer’s Supreme Court decision, Democrats and abortion-rights groups invested hundreds of millions of dollars to boost candidates who supported abortion rights. Supporters of abortion rights also out-fundraised their opponents in ballot measure campaigns in states including Kentucky and Michigan.
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