Buoyed by the political earthquake that happened in Kansas this summer, where voters overwhelmingly affirmed the right to abortion, advocates are looking closely at other states where ballot initiatives are available and assessing the chances of spreading abortion rights one state at a time.
They are also closely watching the upcoming November ballot initiatives in Kentucky and Michigan, particularly the latter. Michigan is considered a bellwether among the purple states for abortion rights. Voters there will decide whether to amend the state constitution to include an affirmative right to an abortion. Red state advocates are also paying attention to Kentucky, where forced birth advocates are trying to do the opposite, and amend the constitution to explicitly deny a guaranteed right to abortion.
There are 18 states where voters are allowed to amend their constitutions in ballot referenda or initiatives, and advocates are taking early steps in a handful of them to put abortion rights on upcoming ballots. Among the furthest along are Ohio, Florida, Arizona, Oklahoma, Colorado, and Missouri, though activists in at least a dozen states are exploring the possibility.
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“Every state that has access to direct democracy as a tool will consider if that is a strategy that makes sense for 2024, for 2026 and beyond,” Sarah Standiford, the national campaigns director at Planned Parenthood Action Fund, told The Washington Post.
That doesn’t mean every one of those states will see it happen, because of the time and energy and money necessary. While advocates are assessing these plans, Republican legislatures are also looking at Kansas and working on how to make it harder for citizen initiatives to make it on to their ballots.
The other side is, of course, going to be at it as well. “We are going to pay attention,” said Stephen Billy, the vice president of state affairs at SBA Pro-Life America. “We are going to be on the front end of these things in all the states and are aware of the threat and are going to do everything that we can to fight back where we’ve got the ability to.” They are also going to be pushing at the federal level for a national abortion ban, and they have all the dark money funding they need to do both.
If there’s one thing that could slow down a national abortion ban, it’s a national groundswell for abortion rights that mirrors what happens in Kansas. That could happen. Brand new polling shows that abortion rights voters’ motivation has only increased in the months since the Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion.
We also don’t know how strong that movement is since so many brand-new voters have registered, and irregular voters are in that motivated set as well—they’re not going to be getting through likely voter screens to be polled.
What we do know right now is that the initiatives in Kentucky and Michigan are absolutely vital for securing abortion rights, and that victory in those states will almost certainly set the forced birth movement back.
If we succeed in these states, we will protect a fundamental right for millions of people. If we fail, countless more will be plunged into darkness.
Please donate $3 now to activists in Kentucky and Michigan who are fighting to protect abortion rights at the ballot box.
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On this week's episode of The Downballot we get medieval on the traditional media for its appalling display of ableism in the wake of John Fetterman's recent NBC interview; recap the absolutely wild goings-on in Los Angeles, where City Council President Nury Martinez just resigned after a racist tirade was caught on tape; dive into the unexpectedly close race for governor in Oklahoma; and highlight a brand-new database from Daily Kos Elections showing how media markets and congressional districts overlap.