Ballot Tracker:
Outcome of Abortion-Related State Constitutional Amendment Measures in the 2024 Election

Since the Supreme Court’s Dobbs  decision overturning Roe v. Wade, voters in 16 states have weighed in on constitutional amendments regarding abortion. In 2024, 10 states voted on abortion measures that sought to affirm that the state constitution protects the right to abortion. Nebraska voted on two measures: one seeking to protect abortion and the other seeking to ban abortion after the first trimester. Measures protecting abortion rights succeeded in 7 states – Arizona, Colorado, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, and New York – and failed in 3 – Florida, Nebraska, and South Dakota. The measure constitutionally prohibiting abortions after the first trimester passed in Nebraska. Prior to the 2024 election, the side favoring access to abortion prevailed in every state that voted on abortion constitutional amendment ballot measures. In 4 of these states – California, Michigan, Ohio, and Vermont – measures amending the state constitution to protect the right to abortion were approved by voters and in the other 2 states – Kentucky and Kansas – measures seeking to curtail the right to abortion failed.  

There are two routes a measure may be placed on the ballot: citizen initiative and legislative referral. 

—Legislatively-referred measures are introduced and approved by lawmakers before they appear on the ballot for citizens to vote on.
—Citizen-initiated measures are written by citizen groups and are placed on the ballot if they receive enough signatures. 

The map below shows the outcome of the state abortion-related constitutional amendment measures.

For more background information on abortion related ballot initiatives, please see our brief Addressing Abortion Access through State Ballot Initiatives.