Chris Love, Arizona for Abortion Access spokesperson, said a history of miscarriages and an abortion as a teenager led her to advocate for reproductive rights. Her group is behind a proposition to restore abortion access in the state. (Jerod MacDonald-Evoy/Arizona Mirror)
Abortion questions are on the ballot directly in 10 states across the nation. Behind most campaigns seeking to secure abortion rights are everyday Americans who put in months — even years — of work to get these ballot measures before voters. (Maryland and New York are the exceptions, with ballot questions drafted by lawmakers instead.)
Momentum for citizen-led initiatives swelled after residents in Kansas rejected an anti-abortion constitutional amendment put forth by a Republican-dominated legislature in August 2022, just two months after the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision. The ruling decimated a nearly 50-year-old precedent and led dozens of states to enact abortion bans.
Anti-abortion ballot questions failed in Montana and Kentucky during the 2022 midterm elections, while referendums on reproductive rights succeeded in California, Michigan and Vermont.
Supporters framed restrictions as attacks on personal freedoms, and in some ways, managed to pull the issue away from the partisan sphere. Poll after poll has shown that the majority of Americans believe abortion should should be legal in all or most cases.
After a successful reproductive-rights initiative led by physicians and advocates in Ohio last November, more coalitions followed suit. Just one citizen-led effort fizzled this year: The Arkansas Supreme Court agreed with the Republican secretary of state’s decision to invalidate thousands of signatures based on paperwork errors.
Still, millions of Americans have the chance to reject or approve proposed abortion-rights amendments. This summer, States Newsroom interviewed leaders behind bids to enshrine the right to abortion in state constitutions.
What resulted was a mosaic of advocates, from a South Dakota father of five to a Nebraska doula, who come from varied backgrounds but have a common goal of shoring up abortion access in a country that has been irrevocably changed by Roe v. Wade’s demise.
Arkansas OB-GYN says proposed abortion-rights amendment could revive standard of care
A campaign volunteer, Dr. Dina Epstein was among hundreds of health care providers who publicly supported the amendment, which state officials ultimately blocked. While gathering signatures, Epstein said she was surprised by “the older, rather religious, kind of more conservative members of the community who have come up and said that they … absolutely do not believe that the government should be making medical decisions for people.”
Arizona ballot measure leader says abortion ‘is not a dirty word’
A 15-week abortion ban and a Civil War-era near-total ban led to a lot of confusion for abortion patients and providers, said Chris Love, Arizona for Abortion Access’ spokesperson. “The confusion was obviously the point, right?”
Colorado abortion ballot organizer says amendment could improve access for Latinx community
“There’s this myth that all the Latinos that are religious, they’re anti-choice. That’s not true,” said Dusti Gurule, president and CEO of Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights and co-chair of the state’s abortion-access amendment campaign.
Florida ballot organizer aims to take politics out of abortion measure
“In November, we’re going to have young women that are maybe voting for the very first time, and if it doesn’t pass, they may be facing menopause by the time there are any protections in place for them and their health care,” said Natasha Sutherland, spokesperson for Floridians Protecting Freedom.
Missouri OB-GYN talks public health in a ban state and drawing on identity to inform patient care
Dr. Iman Alsaden, the chief medical officer for Planned Parenthood Great Plains, has a history of providing abortions in regions with restrictions — they worked in Oklahoma when Texas passed a six-week ban in September 2021. Alsaden shared why they practice obstetrics, and the effect anti-abortion rhetoric has on doctors and patients.
Abortion ballot organizer: Montanans should not take reproductive rights for granted
Kiersten Iwai is the executive director of Forward Montana, a progressive civic youth organization. Iwai’s group focuses on young people and targets college campuses, which is where the group’s 32-year-old leader first got her start in reproductive rights advocacy.
Nebraska doula fights for the right to have babies and abortions
“I completely understand what it means to feel like you don’t have any rights when it comes to what you want to do with your body or the big choices that come with pregnancy,” said Jasmine Smith, a mother, full-spectrum doula and sworn campaign sponsor for Nebraska’s Protect Our Rights, which is trying to overturn a 12-week ban and enshrine abortion protections in the state constitution.
Nevada already protects abortion, but advocates aren’t taking any chances post-Dobbs
Lindsey Harmon, president of Nevadans for Reproductive Freedom and executive director of Planned Parenthood Votes Nevada, discussed why her group wants to secure abortion access in a state where it’s already protected, the influx of out-of-state patients at clinics and Nevada’s status as a battleground state for the presidential race.
South Dakota father leads an effort to restore abortion rights
Dakotans for Health leader Rick Weiland, a 65-year-old father of five, spearheaded a campaign to restore abortion rights in South Dakota. He said efforts by Republican lawmakers and anti-abortion groups to derail the initiative are “desperate.”