Abortion Rights, on Winning Streak, Face Biggest Test in November

Ten states have ballot measures to establish a right to abortion in their state constitutions. The pushback has already begun.

Ballot measures on abortion rights have succeeded beyond what even their proponents imagined when the United States Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade two years ago.

They have not only enshrined a constitutional right to abortion and restored access to the procedure in red and purple states. They have also converted what had been a voter mobilization advantage for Republicans into one for Democrats.

Now the strategy — and an unbroken winning streak — faces its biggest test ever, with 10 states asking voters whether to establish a right to abortion in their constitutions. On Friday, Nebraska became the final state to certify — it will be the only state with two measures, one sponsored by abortion rights supporters and the other by opponents.

Democrats, coming out of a convention where they highlighted reproductive rights like never before, are counting on the measures across the country to both expand abortion access and help them win in battlegrounds for the presidential race and control of the House and Senate, with key races in states including Arizona, Nevada and Montana.

And while voters have sided with abortion rights in all seven states where the question has appeared on the ballot since Roe’s reversal, this year’s map poses far steeper challenges, with citizen-sponsored abortion rights measures in five red states, two with near-total bans and all with aggressive opposition from Republican governors, courts or legislatures.

The ballot amendment in Florida alone will pose a test no other abortion proposal has faced: State law sets the threshold for passage at 60 percent, rather than a simple majority. In other red states, abortion rights groups have won with percentages in the high 50s.