White Thought

Americans in 10 US states voted on Tuesday on whether to enshrine the right to abortion into their state constitutions.

In a major victory, Missouri voted to amend its state constitution to protect abortion rights – a move that sets the state up to become the first since the fall of Roe v Wade to overturn its near-total abortion ban.

So too did voters in the swing state of Arizona, which approved a ballot measure that would establish a fundamental right to abortion and prohibit the state from restricting or banning abortion before 24 weeks – a victory for activists who sought to expand access beyond 15 weeks.

Similar decisions in Montana – which enshrined a 1999 state supreme court ruling that said the constitutional right to privacy protects the right to a pre-viability abortion by a provider of the patient’s choice – and in Nevada, a presidential battleground state, added to the list of major wins for abortion rights supporters.