Multiple US states vote to extend abortion rights

Voters approved most of the referendums expanding the right to abortion in US states, while Florida, Nebraska and South Dakota rejected such measures, giving anti-abortion advocates their first victories since the US Supreme Court ended the constitutional right to the procedure in 2022.

A proposal to amend Florida's state constitution to guarantee abortion rights fell short of the 60% vote threshold needed to pass, Edison Research projected.

In Nebraska, voters faced two opposing ballot measures. They approved one enshrining the state's current 12-week ban, with exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother, the Associated Press projected.

At the same time they rejected a measure that would have added the right to access abortions to the state constitution, the AP projected.

South Dakota voters rejected a proposed amendment that would have guaranteed abortion rights in the state constitution, AP projected.

Abortion is currently banned in South Dakota, with few exceptions.

Edison projected abortion rights measures would pass in Arizona, Missouri, Nevada, Colorado, New York, Maryland and Montana.

The Missouri ballot measure was a notable win, marking the first time that voters in a state enforcing a total abortion ban approved a constitutional amendment that will guarantee abortion rights through foetal viability.

The measure's passage will not automatically void the state's ban, but abortion rights advocates now expect they will win a legal battle to restore abortion rights within months.

Before yesterday, seven states had put the issue of abortion rights directly to voters following the US Supreme Court decision to overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v Wade ruling.

Abortion rights campaigns had won all of those elections.

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Edison Research said the Florida measure was approved by 57% of voters with 95% of votes counted.

Since it failed to meet the 60% threshold, a ban on abortions after the sixth week of pregnancy that came into affect in May will stand.

Florida's ban after the sixth week has few exceptions.

Anti-abortion advocate Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B Anthony Pro-Life America, called Florida's result "a momentous victory." Her group also celebrated the results in Nebraska and South Dakota, and thanked politicians such as South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem and Nebraska Governor Jim Pillen.

Anna Hochkammer, director of Florida Women's Freedom Coalition, which backed that state's measure, noted that 57% still represented a majority of voters.

"The fight goes on because the women and girls of Florida continue to suffer," she said.

The Democratic Party's presidential candidate, US Vice President Kamala Harris, had sought to build support for yesterday's ballot measures that propose amending state constitutions to enshrine a right to abortion.

Democrats have blamed the Republican Party, led by former president Donald Trump, for the abortion bans that many of the measures sought to void.

More than a dozen states banned abortion in all or most cases after the Supreme Court - with a Trump-appointed conservative majority - gutted the federal right to abortion.

Mr Trump, a Florida resident, had said he would vote against the ballot measure, after initially appearing to suggest he would vote in favour.

Women in Arizona will now have the right to an abortion until foetal viability, usually around 24 weeks, under an amendment to the state constitution, whereas the procedure had previously been banned after 15 weeks.

The change will be even more dramatic in Missouri, which had one of the strictest abortion bans in the country with no exceptions for rape or incest.

Voters in the state approved an amendment to the constitution to allow pregnancies to be terminated until foetal viability.

Ms Harris had made a point of highlighting the plight of a number of women who had suffered serious complications or even death due to abortion restrictions after the Supreme Court decision.

Those cases often were the result of health care providers who were reluctant to intervene in the case of miscarriages or other problems for fear of being accused of performing an illegal abortion.

Since the federal right to the procedure was overturned, many women have been forced to travel to other states to have an abortion.