After the June 2022 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that there was no longer a federal right to abortion, every ballot measures placed before voters at the state level guaranteeing access to abortions had been approved for two years.
However, that national track record ended Tuesday, when 10 abortion measures went to various state voters. People in Florida, plus those in the Siouxland states of South Dakota and Nebraska defeated abortion rights constitutional amendment special measures.
Those results were among the many special ballot measures decided in those two states, including on medical marijuana in Nebraska and sales taxes in South Dakota.
In South Dakota, the change would have established a right to abortion during the first trimester, and allow the state to regulate the procedure as a pregnancy progresses.
The state’s near-total abortion stands after voters strongly rejected that constitutional Amendment G. Matt Metzger, of Elk Point, said Amendment G was too extreme, so he voted against it.
The outcome is opposite of the results in 2006 and 2008, when voters rejected near total abortion bans, by around 10-percent margins each time.
Two groups devoted to rejecting Amendment G each out fundraised the Dakotans For Health.
Concerning abortion in Nebraska, it was the only state where voters chose between two proposals competing for a place in the state constitution.
Both proposals, Initiative 434 and Initiative 439, needed approval from more than 50 percent of voters to pass.
Initiative 434, which asked voters to ban most abortions in the second and third trimesters – received enough support to pass.
The second measure, known as Initiative 439, asked voters to constitutionally guarantee abortion access until fetal viability, with exceptions for life and health issues, and expand Nebraska’s abortion limit from 12 to around 24 weeks.
Early results showed support for the initiative, but as more results came in, it fell below the 50 percent threshold.
Nebraska’s Republican U.S. Senator Pete Ricketts and his mother, Marlene Ricketts, backed the campaign with more than $5.1 million in donations.
Conversely, Missouri voters quashed the state’s highly restrictive abortion ban, which included no exception for pregnancies resulting from rape.
*Also in South Dakota, Initiated Measure 28 failed. It would have removed the state’s tax on grocery items, and potentially other purchasable consumables.
Gov. Kristi Noem praised the defeat of IM 28 on social media – saying South Dakotans quote “made a wise decision to defend fiscal responsibility.”
*In Nebraska, two ballot initiatives that would legalize medicinal marijuana passed Tuesday, though the issue will likely remain in limbo pending the outcome of a civil trial.
Ballot initiative 437 will now allow healthcare practitioners to be able to recommend the use of medical cannabis, and patients, with or without the assistance of a caregiver, would be able to possess and use medical cannabis.
*Relatedly, Iowans have overwhelmingly voted to adopt two amendments to the Iowa Constitution.
One amendment changes language regarding voter eligibility from “Every citizen of the United States” to “Only a citizen of the United States.” Current state law only allows U.S. citizens to vote, but the amendment prevents the state from allowing noncitizens to vote in local elections in the future.
The other amendment clarifies the governor’s line of succession. It says that if a governor leaves office, the lieutenant governor takes their place, leaving a vacancy in the office of lieutenant governor. The new governor can then appoint a new lieutenant governor.
