WASHINGTON — An enormous drive to rally voters round reproductive rights took its first main hit on Tuesday evening.
Florida rejected a poll initiative that may have protected entry to the process as much as a fetus’ viability, reversing the state’s six-week abortion ban. A fetus is viable at round 24 weeks of being pregnant.
Whereas it’s the primary state initiative on abortion rights to fail since Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022, there’s a novel barrier in Florida: The state requires 60% of voters to approve amendments to the state structure, versus the easy majority requirement in lots of different states.
With many of the ballots counted, 57% of Floridians had voted in favor of the measure, whereas 43% opposed it, based on the AP. These figures observe with abortion rights ballots in different states: Ohioans final yr enshrined abortion rights within the structure with 57% of the vote.
“As the vast majority of Florida voters made clear tonight, they need their reproductive freedom again,” Nancy Northup, president of the Heart for Reproductive Rights, mentioned in an announcement.
Republican politicians had tried to distance themselves from Florida’s ban this marketing campaign cycle. Most People oppose six-week abortion bans in polling.
Trump beforehand known as the state’s ban “a horrible mistake” this August however later mentioned he would vote in opposition to the measure increasing entry. On Election Day, he pushed again in opposition to reporters who requested how he voted on the measure, demanding they “cease speaking about that.”
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9 different states voted on abortion rights on Tuesday, with outcomes nonetheless coming in. Maryland, New York, and Colorado, states that positioned themselves as protected havens for entry after Roe was overturned, authorized measures that additional shored up entry.
A number of others are voting on a constitutional proper to abortion as much as a fetus’ viability. In Missouri and Nebraska, voters’ approvals of these ballots might reverse present bans.
