In a number of states where voters this month adopted constitutional amendments to preserve or increase access to abortion, reproductive rights organizations are getting ready for court cases.
The organizations that supported seven of the ten pro-abortion rights measures on the national ballot in November are now trying to make sure they are executed smoothly, especially in areas where the amendments will overturn state abortion bans.
In conservative Missouri, where they see one of the most draconian restrictions in the nation, abortion rights organizations are preparing for an exceptionally difficult battle. After the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, Missouri outlawed nearly all abortions, with the exception of those performed in cases of medical emergency and to save the mother’s life.
The largest change to the law in any state that voted on the topic this year would be Amendment 3, which was recently enacted and guarantees the right to an abortion up until fetal viability, or about the 24th week of pregnancy, with exceptions made later to safeguard the woman’s life or health.
Missouri law states that 30 days after it is passed, the provision is formally inscribed in the state constitution. However, pro-life organizations claim that even that does not provide the legal stability abortion clinics need to reopen.
There are two primary reasons for this concerned stance: the GOP-led Legislature has long opposed abortion rights, and Missouri is the first state with a nearly complete abortion prohibition to enact a constitutional amendment proclaiming abortion a fundamental right.
The biggest challenges will be in Missouri, according to Olivia Cappello, who assists in managing state advocacy efforts for the national political arm of Planned Parenthood. Many abortion providers have left that state due to decades of prohibitions and financial cuts to public services for reproductive health care, as well as the state government’s general antagonism. Redesigning the care infrastructure there will therefore take some time.
Missouri’s Republican lawmakers and anti-abortion organizations contested the measure’s inclusion on the ballot at every opportunity. Therefore, even if the ballot initiative passes, politicians are unlikely to quickly amend state laws pertaining to access to abortion.
“The quickest and most likely way for us to work in Missouri is to go to the courts,” she said.
In an attempt to compel the implementation of the voted amendment, the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri and a coalition of reproductive rights organizations have already launched a lawsuit to prohibit the dozens of abortion restrictions that are now in effect in the state, including the nearly complete ban.
Voters in Missouri overwhelmingly supported protecting reproductive freedom and lifting the state’s prohibition on abortion. According to a statement from the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri’s deputy director for policy and campaigns, Tori Schafer, “Our lawsuit is the next step to fulfill the promise of the amendment.”
The suit specifically asks the Missouri Supreme Court to declare the state s abortion ban unconstitutional and seeks the legal authorization for abortion providers in the state to resume services immediately. One day before the modification would formally go into effect, on December 4, a hearing in the matter is planned.
A number of anti-abortion organizations, such as the Thomas More Society and Missouri Stands with Women, have stated that they will oppose implementation but have not provided concrete plans.
“The measure’s narrow margin of victory amounted to a clear indication that there will be pro-life victories in Missouri’s future,” said Kelsey Pritchard, director of state public affairs for Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, a national anti-abortion organization that fought against the passage of amendments in Missouri and elsewhere.
Pritchard gave no details on how the group may oppose the state’s execution of the policy.
Similar initiatives seem to be on the horizon in Arizona, where Proposition 139 established a constitutional right to an abortion up until fetal viability, with subsequent exceptions granted if a medical professional determines that doing so is necessary to preserve the life or physical or mental well-being of the expectant mother.
On Monday, officials will legally certify the results of every election in the state, paving the way for potential legal action about its implementation.
The ballot measure’s passage essentially nullifies Arizona’s current abortion law, which permits abortions up until the 15th week of pregnancy, with an exception for life-saving reasons beyond that and no exceptions for rape or incest. It also goes against what abortion rights organizations claim are about 40 other state law restrictions on care.
These organizations want to swiftly pursue litigation, which they claim is intended to persuade judges to strike down the hundreds of abortion restrictions now in place in the state, in order to successfully implement the measure by the certification deadline on Monday. They anticipate that it will take several months.
According to Chris Love, a senior consultant with Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona, the more than 40 laws that are still in effect do not necessarily go away. The majority of the 40 laws and regulations will need to be challenged in court.
Despite the measure’s victory, many of the state’s abortion regulations may still be in doubt after the 15-week ban.
According to Dawn Penich, a spokesman for the ballot measure campaign, there are other situations in which a judge in Arizona, who was probably chosen by one of our numerous Republican governors over the years, would have a different perspective. She used the state’s 24-hour waiting period requirement for women seeking abortion services as an illustration of the type of legislation that might be upheld.
According to her, obtaining access to abortion through fetal viability will not be simple or quick, even if the amendment is passed.
Anti-abortion organizations have not yet brought any legal action to impede the measure’s adoption in Arizona. At least one well-known anti-abortion group has pledged to oppose its implementation.
In the coming weeks and months, we hope to have more people join us in this fight for life. In a statement, Arizona Right to Life Chair Jill Norgaard declared, “This fight is not over.” In a statement this week, her group urged its supporters in the opposition to Proposition 139 to unite in their efforts to overturn it.
When asked if Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, which also opposed the measure’s approval in Arizona, will be involved in the state’s implementation going forward, Pritchard would not answer.
Montana, where voters approved a ballot initiative making abortion a state constitutional right, has not yet seen any legal action on either side of the dispute. However, abortion rights organizations in the state, which leans Republican, stated that they are ready to answer any questions.
There is no need for a convoluted legal procedure to lift any significant limitations because abortion is already permitted in Montana up until fetal viability. Because of this, abortion rights organizations have not had to bring any affirmative action lawsuits, and the likelihood of any successful challenges to the measure’s implementation is greatly reduced.
In Colorado, Maryland, Nevada, and New York, the other four states where voters enshrined abortion rights in state constitutions earlier this month, abortion rights organizations are similarly not anticipating a major fight.
According to state law, such amendments must pass in two consecutive election cycles, so in Nevada, voters will need to approve the same legislation again in 2026 before it can become effective.
While Colorado has no regulations limiting abortion or gestational limits for women seeking abortions, Maryland and New York currently allow abortions based on fetal viability. Nearly all of these blue states’ constitutional changes are designed to keep future politicians from rescinding current protections.
The first three states where pro-abortion rights ballot measures have failed since the Supreme Court reversed Roe are Florida, Nebraska, and South Dakota, where voters rejected proposed amendments that would have codified abortion protections in their state constitutions.
These results, according to reproductive rights organizations, demonstrate that there is still strong hostility to abortion rights in many areas of the nation, and they cannot take anything for granted, even in states where such laws have been established.
Election day is not the end of ballot measures. According to Quentin Savwoir, director of programs and strategy at the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center, which collaborates with progressive groups to support citizen-led ballot measures, ballot measure coalitions must remain active for a long time to guarantee that the laws they passed are carried out in the spirit intended.
Savwoir went on to say that his organization anticipated a surge in measures and legislation that would hinder other states’ efforts to directly elect their own representatives to decide the future of abortion rights.
For instance, he forecasted that measures similar to a Florida statute that required 60% of voters to support any such citizen-led ballot proposal will appear in states with a Republican majority. (Despite receiving the backing of 57% of voters, the ballot item that would have guaranteed abortion rights in Florida’s constitution failed.)
“With the overwhelming support of our initiatives, we are ready for an escalation of all kinds of attacks on the ballot measure and initiative process itself,” he stated.
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