UPDATE, January 24, 2024: This article has been updated to reflect developments in Arkansas.
Abortion wins elections. We saw it last year when Ohio voters enshrined abortion rights into the state constitution, and in 2022 when Kansas, Kentucky, and Michigan voters rejected abortion restrictions and affirmed expanded protections.
Now, advocates and opponents alike are pushing more abortion-related measures onto upcoming ballots. Rewire News Group will be tracking abortion ballot initiatives and updating this list as groups gather signatures for their petitions and secure their place in this year’s elections.
Alabama
The state does not currently have a ballot initiative in the upcoming election cycle. Alabama has a total abortion ban with limited exceptions.
Alaska
Alaska does not currently have a ballot initiative in the upcoming election cycle. The state supreme court has ruled multiple times that abortion is constitutionally protected, and pregnant people can receive abortion care at any point during pregnancy.
Arizona
Arizona for Abortion Access, a coalition of pro-choice groups including the ACLU of Arizona, Healthcare Rising Arizona, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona, and more, is gathering signatures to put a constitutional amendment affirming the right to abortion on the November 2024 ballot. As of January 12, advocates had collected more than 250,000 of the 383,923 signatures needed by July 3 to get the measure on the ballot. The amendment would allow for abortion care up until the point of fetal viability, somewhere between 24 and 26 weeks. Abortion is currently banned at 15 weeks.
Arkansas
On January 23, Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin certified an abortion rights ballot measure after previous attempts were rejected over language. Advocates can now gather signatures to get the measure on the ballot.
On November 28, 2023, Griffin first rejected the title for a proposed ballot measure—dubbed the Arkansas Reproductive Healthcare Amendment that aimed to legalize abortion access up to 18 weeks. In his rejection, Griffin cited confusion over the ballot language’s use of the words like “access” and “health,” and said the ballot’s title “is tinged with partisan coloring and misleading.”
After having its proposed abortion access ballot language rejected by Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin for a second time on January 4, advocates submitted a third draft of the measure addressing the last of Griffin’s concerns on January 8.
The ballot question committee behind the initiative, Arkansans for Limited Government (organized by the nonprofit For AR People), said it will propose a revised ballot measure to the attorney general’s office.
The Natural State has a total abortion ban with limited exceptions.
California
The state does not currently have a ballot initiative in the upcoming election cycle. In 2022, Californians voted to amend the state constitution to include the right to abortion. Abortion is banned at the point of viability.
Colorado
The Colorado Reproductive Health, Rights, and Justice Coalition announced in late August its intent to get a ballot measure to codify abortion rights into the state constitution. The coalition submitted two measures—one to enshrine abortion rights into the state constitution and another to allow abortion to be covered by state and local government employees’ health insurance—for title consideration. According to Ballotpedia, the measure that would constitutionally protect abortion was approved for petition circulation in October, and the measure that would protect health-care insurance coverage of abortion for government employees had its title set by the state Title Board. Colorado Newsline reported that the coalition pushing the initiatives will only pursue one of the two measures.
Meanwhile, anti-abortion group Colorado Life Initiative is pushing abortion ban initiatives, though a similar effort by the group was defeated in 2022. Titles were set for two measures that would ban abortion, establish fetal “personhood,” and provide enforcement mechanisms. Abortion in Colorado is currently legal throughout pregnancy.
Connecticut
Connecticut does not currently have a ballot initiative in the upcoming election cycle. In 2022, Connecticut lawmakers passed laws to protect patients traveling to the state and abortion care providers, as well as legislation allowing physician assistants, advanced practice registered nurses, and nurse midwives to provide procedural abortions. Abortion is banned at the point of viability.
Delaware
The state does not currently have a ballot initiative in the upcoming election cycle. Abortion is banned after the point of viability.
Florida
Floridians Protecting Freedom, a coalition of reproductive rights organizations and citizens, has surpassed the number of statewide petition signatures needed to put the “Amendment to Limit Government Interference With Abortion” on the 2024 ballot, though it is not yet an official ballot measure. The statewide total needed is 891,523, and advocates have collected 911,168 valid signatures. Florida also requires a certain number of signatures from each voting district, and Secretary of State Cord Byrd has not yet certified the ballot measure. If approved, abortion would be banned in the Sunshine State after the point of viability.
In November 2023, Florida’s Republican Attorney General Ashley Moody asked the state supreme court to weigh in on the measure’s language, which she argues is too vague for voters to understand. Advocates have said they’re worried that an attempt to save the measure by explicitly defining viability would hamper abortion rights advocacy across the country for the foreseeable future. Abortion is currently banned at 15 weeks.
Georgia
Georgia does not currently have a ballot initiative in the upcoming election cycle. Abortion is banned at six weeks, before most people know they’re pregnant.
Hawaii
Hawaii does not currently have a ballot initiative in the upcoming election cycle. In March, Gov. Josh Green signed abortion protection measures into state law, both expanding access and removing onerous requirements like only allowing abortion care in hospital or clinical settings. Abortion is banned at the point of viability.
Idaho
Idaho does not currently have a ballot initiative in the upcoming election cycle. Abortion is completely banned with limited exceptions, and providers must perform an “affirmative defense,” proving in court that an abortion would meet the state’s legal exception requirements.
Illinois
Illinois does not currently have a ballot initiative in the upcoming election cycle, though Gov. J.B. Pritzker has advocated for a pro-abortion measure to be on the 2024 ballot. The state supreme court has affirmed that abortion is constitutionally protected, and abortion is banned at the point of viability.
Indiana
Indiana does not currently have a ballot initiative in the upcoming election cycle. In June, the state supreme court doubled down on its total abortion ban with limited exceptions.
Iowa
Conservative Iowa lawmakers are pushing a ballot measure for November 2024 that would add language to Iowa’s state constitution declaring it does not “recognize, grant, or secure a right to abortion or require the public funding of abortion.” Abortion is currently banned at 22 weeks. A six-week ban was signed into law in July, but a state judge issued an injunction as a lawsuit against it makes its way through the courts.
Kansas
Kansas does not currently have a ballot initiative in the upcoming election cycle. In 2022, voters rejected an amendment to declare that the state constitution did not guarantee the right to abortion. Abortion is banned at 22 weeks.
Kentucky
The state does not currently have a ballot initiative in the upcoming election cycle. In 2022, Kentucky voters rejected an amendment to prevent the state constitution from safeguarding the right to or funding for abortion care. The state has a total abortion ban with limited exceptions.
Louisiana
Louisiana does not currently have a ballot initiative in the upcoming election cycle. In 2020, voters approved an amendment declaring the state constitution does not provide for abortion protections or funding. Louisiana has a total ban, with limited exceptions.
Maine
Maine does not currently have a ballot initiative in the upcoming election cycle. In July, Gov. Janet Mills signed into law a bill that allows for later abortions if a doctor deems it medically necessary. Otherwise, abortion is banned at the point of viability.
Maryland
In November, Maryland voters will decide whether to approve the Right to Reproductive Freedom Act, which would affirm “an individual’s own reproductive liberty and provides the State may not, directly or indirectly, deny, burden, or abridge the right unless justified by a compelling State interest achieved by the least restrictive means.” Currently, abortion is banned at the point of viability.
Massachusetts
Massachusetts does not currently have a ballot initiative in the upcoming election cycle. Abortion is banned at 24 weeks.
Michigan
The Great Lakes State does not currently have a ballot initiative in the upcoming election cycle. In 2022, voters approved a constitutional amendment guaranteeing the right to abortion. Abortion is banned at the point of viability.
Minnesota
Minnesota does not currently have a ballot initiative in the upcoming election cycle. In January, Gov. Tim Walz signed into law legislation that protects both abortion providers and out-of-state patients. Abortion is legal at any point during pregnancy.
Mississippi
The state does not currently have a ballot initiative in the upcoming election cycle. In March, the Mississippi Legislature proposed a citizen-led ballot initiative process that specifically banned any abortion-related measures, but the entire effort was killed in the state senate. The Magnolia State has a total ban with limited exceptions.
Missouri
Abortion advocates with the group Missourians for Constitutional Freedom are working to put the Missouri Right to Reproductive Freedom Amendment, which would enshrine the right to reproductive freedom in the state constitution, allow bans or restrictions on abortion care after the point of fetal viability except to protect the pregnant person’s life and health, and repeal the existing ban on the November 2024 ballot.
GOP operative Jamie Corley started the nonprofit Missouri Women and Family Research Fund in 2023 to file six initiative petitions that would nullify the current state abortion ban, make abortion legal through 12 weeks, and add exceptions for rape, incest, the life of the pregnant person, and fetal anomalies to the state’s current abortion ban. All six proposals were approved for circulation.
There’s been some drama surrounding the ballot language among state officials: In September 2023, a judge rewrote a Republican-written ballot summary that described abortions as “dangerous and unregulated” to instead say it would guarantee “the right to make decisions about reproductive health care, including abortion and contraception.” In October, a state appeals court rejected Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft’s proposed language that would refer to the measure’s provisions as providing for “dangerous and unregulated abortions until live birth,” saying it was too partisan. The Associated Press reported the state supreme court declined to hear Ashcroft’s appeal.
Abortion is currently banned, and doctors must provide an “affirmative defense” to provide care that meets the state’s legal exception.
Montana
On January 16, Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen blocked a proposed ballot measure that would have enshrined abortion rights up to the point of viability in the state constitution, the Montana Free Press reported.
In a memorandum to the secretary of state, Knudsen said the measure is legally insufficient, “logrolls” too many issues into a single initiative, and “limits the ability of the state to provide for public health and safety.
According to the Daily Montanan, Raph Graybill, an attorney representing Montanans Securing Reproductive Rights (led by Planned Parenthood Advocates of Montana), said the advocates behind the measure are still working to get abortion on the ballot this year.
“We will do everything we can, including taking legal action, to ensure Montanans have the opportunity to vote to secure their rights to make decisions about their own pregnancies, including the right to abortion care, in 2024,” Graybill said.
In November 2023, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Montana submitted a ballot proposal to affirm Montanans’ right to make their own reproductive decisions, including abortion, and prevent the government from hindering abortion rights before the point of fetal viability. It also contained provisions for protecting the pregnant person’s life and health, and it “prevents the government from punishing patients, health-care providers, or anyone who assists someone in seeking reproductive care, including abortion care.”
Abortion is banned at the point of viability. In May 2023, Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte signed a 15-week ban into law just months after Montana voters rejected an anti-abortion bill. A state court temporarily blocked the ban.
Nebraska
On November 15, abortion rights coalition Protect Our Rights released language for a ballot measure that would constitutionally protect abortion “until fetal viability”—usually around 24 to 26 weeks—or to save the pregnant person’s life or health. Republican Gov. Jim Pillen has vowed to fight the measure and, similarly to Florida officials, called the viability language “vague and deceptive.” Protect Our Rights must collect signatures from about 123,000 voters, and at least 5 percent of registered voters in 38 of the state’s 93 counties, according to the Hill.
In March 2023, anti-abortion advocates proposed the Nebraska Human Life Protection Act, which would ban procedural and medication abortions, with an exception to save the pregnant person’s life. The petition is in circulation.
Nebraska currently has a 12-week ban.
Nevada
After a district judge in the Silver State shot down a ballot initiative that would have provided for the right to abortion care up until the point of fetal viability—saying the petition was too broad and would be an unfunded mandate—the advocates behind the initiative have launched a second campaign to get abortion rights on Nevada’s ballot. The reproductive rights coalition Nevadans for Reproductive Freedom’s new proposal provides for the fundamental right to “abortion performed or administered by a qualified health-care practitioner until fetal viability,” which can occur sometime between 24 to 26 weeks of pregnancy. It also says a pregnant person has the right to an abortion to protect their life or health.
The petition needs 102,362 signatures. Because it is a constitutional amendment, it needs to pass twice in Nevada, meaning that voters would need to decide on it again in 2026 if it gathers enough signatures and gains a simple majority of yes votes in 2024. Abortion is currently legal through 24 weeks in Nevada, and Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo signed protections for out-of-state patients into law in May.
New Hampshire
New Hampshire does not currently have a ballot initiative in the upcoming election cycle. Abortion is banned after 24 weeks.
New Jersey
The Garden State does not currently have a ballot initiative in the upcoming election cycle. Abortion is legal throughout pregnancy.
New Mexico
The state does not currently have a ballot initiative in the upcoming election cycle. Abortion is legal throughout pregnancy.
New York
Voters will decide in 2024 whether to codify a state Equal Rights Amendment that includes protections against discrimination over “pregnancy, pregnancy outcomes, reproductive healthcare and autonomy.” Abortion is currently legal until the point of viability.
North Carolina
North Carolina does not currently have a ballot initiative in the upcoming election cycle. Abortion is banned at 12 weeks.
North Dakota
North Dakota does not currently have a ballot initiative in the upcoming election cycle. Abortion is completely banned, with limited exceptions.
Ohio
On November 7, Ohio voters approved Issue 1, enshrining abortion access until the point of viability in the state constitution.
Oklahoma
The Sooner State does not currently have a ballot initiative in the upcoming election cycle. Pro-choice rights activists attempted to tee up an abortion rights vote this year, but withdrew it to find a better time to get the more than 170,000 required signatures to put the measure on the November 2024 ballot. Abortion is completely banned, with the only exception being to save the pregnant person’s life.
Oregon
State Democrats have proposed a constitutional amendment to protect abortion access, same-sex marriage, and gender-affirming care. If it passes the state legislature, Oregonians will get to vote on it in November. Right now, people can get abortion care at any point in pregnancy.
Pennsylvania
In December 2023, Democratic lawmakers in Pennsylvania introduced a constitutional amendment that would provide for personal reproductive liberty, including abortion. If it passes both chambers of the state legislature, Pennsylvanians will be able to vote to pass or reject the amendment, though the Penn Capital-Star reported the earliest referendum could only happen in spring 2025.
In November, Pennsylvanians voted to place Daniel McCaffery, who portrayed himself as an abortion rights defender, on the state supreme court. Abortion is banned at 24 weeks.
Rhode Island
The state does not currently have a ballot initiative in the upcoming election cycle. Abortion is banned at the point of viability.
South Carolina
South Carolina does not currently have a ballot initiative in the upcoming election cycle. Abortion is banned at six weeks, before most people know they’re pregnant.
South Dakota
Advocacy group Dakotans for Health is collecting signatures for a 2024 ballot initiative, “Restore Roe v. Wade,” that would make abortion care legal in the first trimester and allow the state to regulate abortion in the second and third trimesters. Abortion is currently banned at all points of pregnancy, with limited exceptions.
Tennessee
Tennessee does not currently have a ballot initiative in the upcoming election cycle. Abortion is completely banned, with limited exceptions.
Texas
The Lone Star State does not currently have a ballot initiative in the upcoming election cycle. Abortion is completely banned, with limited exceptions.
Utah
Utah does not currently have a ballot initiative in the upcoming election cycle. Abortion is banned after 18 weeks.
Vermont
The state does not currently have a ballot initiative in the upcoming election cycle. In November 2022, voters approved Proposition 5, which constitutionally protects abortion at any point during pregnancy.
Virginia
Virginia does not currently have a ballot initiative in the upcoming election cycle. Abortion is banned after 26 weeks and 6 days.
Washington
Washington state does not currently have a ballot initiative in the upcoming election cycle. Abortion is banned at the point of viability.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C. does not currently have a ballot initiative in the upcoming election cycle. Abortion is legal at all stages of pregnancy.
West Virginia
The state does not currently have a ballot initiative in the upcoming election cycle. Abortion is completely banned, with limited exceptions, and the state constitution includes language that explicitly excludes abortion rights.
Wisconsin
Wisconsin does not currently have a ballot initiative in the upcoming election cycle, though GOP Sen. Ron Johnson has advocated for a vote on a 12-week ban. The state bans abortion at 22 weeks.
Wyoming
The state does not currently have a ballot initiative in the upcoming election cycle. Abortion is banned at the point of viability.
Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated Oregon’s current abortion policy. Oregon has no gestational limit on abortion care.
This piece was originally published on October 11, 2023.
