This story was written by one of Teen Vogue's 2024 Student Correspondents, a team of college students covering the election cycle from key battleground states. Originally published on September 4, this story is being updated with election results as of November 5.
Fourteen states across the country have instituted bans on abortion at every stage of pregnancy after the overturn of Roe v. Wade, with several more severely restricting access to reproductive care.
At the most recent State of the Union, President Joe Biden called on Congress to restore abortion protections in federal law. Yet Democrats’ slim margins in the Senate make that unlikely, reported Politifact’s Amy Sherman. Meanwhile, Donald Trump told TIME that if he won the 2024 election, he’d leave it up to individual states to decide if they wanted to monitor pregnant people and prosecute them for seeking abortions. Trump applauded the Supreme Court’s decision to reverse Roe at the first presidential debate last month.
Now that Trump is the projected winner, doctors and advocates are sounding the alarm about abortion access in the coming years. “The reelection of Donald Trump raises new and serious concerns about the safety of those needing reproductive health care,” Dr. Daniel Grossman, director of Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH) and an OB-GYN said in a statement. "This outcome reflects a stark setback for science-based medical care in a nation where many already live in reproductive health deserts."
Nourbese Flint, president of All* In Action Fund, said in a statement: “Donald Trump, JD Vance, and their zealots have said the quiet part out loud — they will enact a national abortion ban, putting our lives at risk, and continue to police our lives, bodies, and communities, all while pushing us toward a dangerous, deadly future that threatens our health, safety, economic security, and democracy.”
Flint continued, “While the election results bring uncertainty, our resolve remains unshaken. This outcome does not change our commitment to abortion access, democracy, and equity.”
The future of abortion remains uncertain at the federal level, but it was put before the people to decide in many places. This year, 10 states allowed residents to vote on ballot measures that would expand or protect access to abortion.
Abortion ballot measures may have been an additional way to engage youth in an election year. According to a Tufts University study, exit polls from the 2022 midterms showed abortion was the top issue that influenced young people’s vote. Run for Something cofounder Amanda Litman, whose organization works with people who are thinking about running for local office, called it an “invitation to the polls.”
“Young voters who are, maybe, a little bit or a lot disillusioned or actively unenthusiastic about voting for Biden, this gives them another reason to show up,” Litman told Teen Vogue. “These ballot initiatives and the state and local candidates who are making this a concrete issue can be really powerful drivers.”
According to this spring’s Harvard Youth Poll, half of 18- to 29-year-olds say women’s reproductive rights are among their top 2024 election issues, with 68% of Democrats, 24% of Republicans, and 49% of Independents.
Reproductive Freedom for All president Mini Timmaraju told Teen Vogue that young folks, the “18 to 35 cohort, are much more willing to cross party lines to support reproductive freedom [like abortion access], birth control, IVF.” The constitutional right to abortion lost in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization was also part of a broader “right to privacy,” wrote Vox’s Ian Millhiser.
Abortion bans and restrictions affect folks who are already marginalized from the nation’s health care system, including LGBTQ+ youth, immigrants, BIPOC, and people living in rural areas or without access to a provider. “At the end of the day, someone shouldn't have to decide where they go to college or where they take a job based on their ability to have a fundamental freedom and have their bodily autonomy respected,” Timmaraju said. “But that is the world we're in.”
Over the past year, youth leaders who experienced challenges receiving critical reproductive care have been telling their stories as they seek state and local seats, including Arizona senator Eva Burch, a Run for Something alum, and Tennessee House candidate Allie Phillips.
“Young people see that those in charge are just out of touch in many ways,” Litman said. “Young people are seeing the consequences of having elected leaders who do not share our lived experience, who do not understand the real personal consequences that these bans are having.”
Here’s an overview of where abortion was on the ballot during the 2024 presidential election, and the outcome of those votes.
Arizona: Amendment Passed
Voters approved a constitutional amendment on the ballot that would establish a right to abortion up to the point of fetal viability, a threshold determined by physicians but estimated to be around 24 weeks. The amendment also includes protections for abortion after 24 weeks to “protect the life or physical or mental health of the pregnant individual.” Prior to the vote, abortion was banned in Arizona after 15 weeks.
Colorado: Amendment Passed
With more than 60% of the vote, Colorado passed an amendment that affirms abortion in the state constitution and revokes the existing ban on public funding for abortions that state employees and people on Medicaid use for abortions covered by insurance. Amendment 79 demanded 55% of the vote to pass. Currently, abortion is legal without gestational limits. The legislature enacted a Reproductive Health Equity Act in 2022 that codified the right to abortion and contraception and confirmed that “a fertilized egg, embryo, or fetus does not have independent or derivative rights under the laws of the state.”
Florida: Amendment Failed
Floridians Protecting Freedom certified nearly a million signatures, surpassing the number required, to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot that would ensure a right to abortion until viability. Amendment 4, however, failed to meet the 60% support it needed to pass in the state, according to a projection by Decision Desk HQ. A majority of voters did, however, support the amendment: About 57% of voters supported the amendment, falling just short of the necessary 60% threshold. As a result, abortion will remain banned in Florida after six weeks gestation, due to a law that's been in effect since May 1. Florida is surrounded by states with near-total abortion bans; before the current ban, people from those nearby states would travel to Florida to access abortion.
Maryland: Amendment Passed
The state’s Democratic-controlled legislature moved the Right to Reproductive Freedom Act onto the general election ballot, and voters passed the measure on Tuesday. NBC News reported that about 74% of voters approved a constitutional amendment to cement an expanded right to abortion and additional reproductive rights. Abortion is legal until viability under a state referendum passed by Marylanders in 1992. Now, the amendment will add "the ability to make and effectuate decisions to prevent, continue, or end one's own pregnancy."
Missouri: Amendment Passed
Missourians passed a constitutional amendment to create a right to abortion until viability and enshrine other forms of reproductive health care, such as birth control and miscarriage care. Prior to the passage of this amendment, abortion was banned without exceptions for rape or incest. According to the New York Times, Missouri was the first state to ban abortion after Roe v. Wade was overturned, making this amendment passage particularly significant. This is also the first case in which citizens have overturned an abortion ban via a ballot question vote, according to the Times.
Montana: Amendment Passed
Montanans voted to safeguard abortion until viability, enshrining the current law in the state constitution. While the amendment won't change anything, NBC News reported that advocates proposed the amendment as a safeguard against any future threats to reproductive freedom.
Nebraska: Amendment Failed
Nebraskans voted against a measure that would preserve a right to abortion until viability, instead voting to restrict abortion past the first three months of pregnancy. Voters in the state faced competing ballot measures, opting to affirm the state's restrictions. Abortion is currently outlawed after 12 weeks with some exceptions, according to state law.
Nevada: Amendment Passed
Nevadans passed a constitutional amendment on the ballot to solidify the right to abortion until viability — a process that required a simple majority in two successive elections. The passage of this amendment is the first of two necessary votes, putting Nevada on the road to securing the right to abortion in the state if a second vote passes in 2026. Abortion is currently legal until viability after voters approved a state referendum in 1990.
New York: Amendment Passed
Voters approved the New York Equal Protection of Law Amendment, further protecting abortion access in the state. The amendment “prohibit[s] discrimination based on a person’s ethnicity, national origin, age, disability, and sex, including their sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, and pregnancy outcomes.” The measure also secures the right to abortion alongside added reproductive health care. Abortion is legal until viability and can be performed at any stage to save a pregnant person’s life.
South Dakota: Amendment Failed
A near total abortion ban will remain in place in South Dakota after voters rejected a constitutional amendment on the ballot that would have reserved a right to abortion in the first trimester and demanded that any second-trimester regulation “must be reasonably related to the physical health of the pregnant woman.” Abortion is banned without exception for rape or incest in the state, due to a trigger law that went into effect after Roe v. Wade was overturned.
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