Abortion rights were explicitly on the ballot in multiple states in the 2022 midterms, and voters\u2019 message on the subject was resounding: In red states, blue states and swing states, every proposal that aimed to restrict abortion rights has been rejected, and every measure to support abortion rights has passed.<\/p>\n
Though some results are still trickling in, thus far every ballot initiative that has been decided has clearly revealed that voters not only support abortion rights, but will also show up to defend them. This is a significant victory, particularly in the wake of Roe v. Wade<\/em>\u2019s demise and the end of the constitutional right to an abortion.<\/p>\n If the midterms were a referendum on anything, it was abortion.<\/p>\n Polls<\/a> show that a quarter of voters said that the overturning of Roe v. Wade<\/em> was the most important factor in their vote, and 70 percent said it was an important factor to them. More than half of Democratic voters said the decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women\u2019s Health Organization <\/em>had a major impact on their voting choices. And those who voted for Democratic House candidates were more likely to say the Dobbs<\/em> decision mattered in their vote. For a party facing what many pundits predicted would be a brutal thrashing, support for abortion rights proved to have a significantly ameliorating effect its candidates\u2019 showing in the midterms.<\/p>\n In the first national election since the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade<\/em> in June, abortion was sure to be an issue. As the results continue to trickle in, however, abortion will likely continue to reveal itself as the core issue of this election.<\/p>\n For the first time ever, abortion was on the ballot in five states \u2014 California, Kentucky, Michigan, Montana and Vermont. Voters in California<\/a>, Michigan<\/a> and Vermont<\/a> all enshrined the right to an abortion into their state\u2019s constitution.<\/p>\n In Kentucky<\/a>, a traditionally conservative state, voters rejected a proposal that would have stripped the right to an abortion in the state; in doing so, they kept in place a barrier that prevents hostile legislators from potentially banning abortion entirely.<\/p>\n And though results in Montana are still coming in, it looks as though the state\u2019s Referendum <\/a>131<\/a>, which would have required health care providers to sustain infants born at any stage, even those that have no chance of survival, and which would lay the groundwork for fetal personhood in the state, is poised to be rejected as well.<\/p>\n