This story was updated at 7 a.m. to reflect more ballot measures being called.
Florida voters rejected a referendum to enshrine abortion rights in the constitution Tuesday, marking the first time supporters of abortion rights have failed at the ballot box in the two years since Roe v. Wade was overturned.
Along with Nebraska and South Dakota, voters in three of the 10 states in total with abortion measures on their ballots opted against establishing a right to an abortion. Two other red states, Missouri and Montana, did pass abortion-rights measures, along with Arizona, Colorado, Maryland, Nevada and New York.
Florida’s Amendment 4, a citizen-initiated ballot question to amend the state’s constitution to protect abortion rights up to fetal viability, received 57% of the vote but fell short of the state’s 60% threshold to pass a constitutional amendment.
Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the anti-abortion SBA Pro-Life America, called the amendment’s failure “a momentous victory for life in Florida and in our entire country” and thanked Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), who used state resources to campaign against it.
“Thanks to Gov. Ron DeSantis, when we wake up tomorrow, babies with beating hearts will still be protected in the free state of Florida,” Dannenfelser said.
The result keeps intact the state’s six-week abortion ban, which the Republican-controlled legislature approved and DeSantis signed in 2023.
Floridians Protecting Freedom, which backed Amendment 4, raised $76.4 million, according to its most recent finance report. Five opposition groups, led by a political action committee headed by DeSantis, collectively raised $10 million through the same period.
Opponents said the amendment was misleading and claimed in a state-backed messaging push that it would turn Florida into an “abortion tourism destination” in the South.
Florida was one of 10 states with abortion-related questions on the ballot, which had not yet been called. They include several red states — Montana, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota — where lawmakers previously moved to limit access to the procedure.
Here’s what happened in other states where the ballot measure has been called:
Arizona: Voters approved Proposition 139, which amends the state constitution to create a “fundamental right” to an abortion.
The measure prohibits the state from interfering in an individual’s decision to have an abortion until fetal viability, which the amendment defined as the point after which “the fetus has a significant likelihood of survival outside the uterus.” After that, abortions could be allowed if a health care provider determines it would protect the life or the physical or mental health of the individual.
Arizona for Abortion Access, the group supporting Proposition 139 to create a constitutional right to an abortion, raised $32.7 million through the end of September, according to campaign finance reports. It Goes Too Far, the main organization opposing the proposition, raised $1.3 million.
Abortion is currently legal in Arizona up to 15 weeks of pregnancy. The amendment needed more than 50% of the vote to pass. It had more than 60% support when the Associated Press called it.
Colorado: Colorado voters overwhelmingly approved a constitutional amendment recognizing a right to an abortion and repealing a constitutional amendment from 1984 that prohibited the use of state funds to provide abortion coverage. The citizen-initiated Amendment 79 had to clear the state’s 55% threshold.
Colorado currently has no gestational limit on abortions and the Democrat-controlled legislature was among the first to move to protect abortion rights in anticipation of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision.
Supporters said the constitutional amendment would create a safeguard against future attempts to roll back those protections. They also said providing abortion coverage through Medicaid and state health plans could actually help pregnant people to avoid more complicated late-term abortions by making the procedure a more routine part of health care offered in the state.
Coloradans for Protecting Reproductive Freedom, a committee supporting the measure, raised more than $8 million compared to a combined $200,000 from four opposition committees.
Maryland: Maryland voters passed a legislatively referred ballot measure to enshrine the right to an abortion in the state constitution.
Question 1 adds a new article to the state constitution’s Declaration of Rights establishing a right to reproductive freedom, including the right to an abortion.
Maryland allows abortion up to fetal viability, after which it is allowed if the woman’s life or health is endangered or there is a fetal anomaly. The measure needed more than 50% of the vote to pass.
Most of the fundraising came from supporters, who raised $561,000 to $$83,000 from opponents.
Missouri: Voters rejected one of the country’s most restrictive abortion bans by approving an amendment to enshrine the right to reproductive freedom in the state constitution.
The citizen-initiated Amendment 3 adds a fundamental right to reproductive freedom, defined to include abortion and “all matters relating to reproductive health care,” to the Missouri Constitution.
It provides that the state legislature may enact laws that regulate abortion after fetal viability, which is defined in the initiative as the point after which there is a significant likelihood of survival outside the womb. It also prohibits the legislature from restricting any abortion a health care professional deems necessary to protect the life or physical or mental health of the pregnant person.
Supporters of Amendment 3 raised $21.8 million — about 100 times the $211,000 that Missouri Stands With Women, the lone opposition group, managed to raise. It was approved as Republicans in the state sailed to wins for president, the governorship and the U.S. Senate.
Montana: Voters approved the citizen-initiated Right to Abortion Initiative CI-128, which provides a state constitutional “right to make and carry out decisions about one’s own pregnancy, including the right to abortion.” It allows the state to regulate abortion after fetal viability, except when “medically indicated to protect the life or health of the pregnant patient.”
Montana’s Supreme Court has upheld the right to abortion up to fetal viability based on case law surrounding the constitution’s right to privacy provision. The state’s Republican lawmakers have tried to overturn that ruling. Republicans in the legislature spoke out in opposition to the ballot measure, saying it was too broad and would limit the state from regulating abortions to protect patients.
Montanans Securing Reproductive Rights raised $20.5 million. Two opposition groups combined to raise just $330,000 through the same period.
Nebraska: Reproductive-rights supporters were not successful in Nebraska, where a dueling measure to restrict abortion past the first trimester prevailed.
Initiative 439, which would have enshrined the right to an abortion in the state constitution, was narrowly rejected, 51%-49%. The more restrictive Initiative 434 was approved 55%-45%.
Protect Our Rights, the leading Abortion rights supporting committee, raised over $13 million on both campaigns, compared to just under $12 million from Protect Women and Children, the group behind the effort to limit abortions after the first trimester.
Abortion is currently restricted in the state after 12 weeks of pregnancy.
Nevada: Voters elected to amend the state constitution to protect abortion rights until fetal viability or when necessary to protect the life or health of the pregnant person. The citizen-initiated Question 6, or the Right to an Abortion Amendment, received more than 60% of the vote.
Ballot measures must appear in two successive general elections in Nevada, so the issue will be put to voters again in the 2026 election.
The amendment would protect a right to an abortion until fetal viability, or when needed to protect the life or health of the pregnant patient. It defines fetal viability as the point after which there is a significant likelihood of a fetus’s sustained survival outside the uterus without the application of extraordinary medical measures.
Abortion in Nevada is currently legal until 24 weeks of pregnancy.
The Nevadans for Reproductive Freedom PAC, the leading the campaign in support of the initiative, reported $11 million in contributions as of Sept. 30, with no reported contributions from the leading opposition committee, the Coalition for Parents and Children PAC.
New York: Voters approved an addition to the state’s Bill of Rights to provide that people cannot be denied rights based on their “ethnicity, national origin, age, and disability” or “sex, including sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, pregnancy outcomes, and reproductive healthcare and autonomy.”
Amendment backers contended that the proposed changes to the bill of rights would bar the legislature from enacting abortion rights restrictions, even though the word “abortion” was not mentioned in the ballot measure.
Republican opponents argued that it was too broad and could be interpreted to allow transgender athletes to compete on girls sports’ teams, or infringe on parents’ ability to make decisions about their children’s health care.
Supporters raised more than $5.7 million, compared to $548,000 from opponents.
South Dakota: Voters kept in place the state’s near total abortion ban by rejecting a constitutional amendment that would have created a right to an abortion under certain conditions. Amendment G was opposed by 60% of voters.
The amendment would have created a legal framework for the state to regulate abortion based on the length of gestation.
It would have prohibited the state from regulating abortions during the first trimester. Regulations in the second trimester would have only been allowed “in ways that are reasonably related to the physical health of the pregnant woman.” After that, state abortion regulations would have been allowed except when a medical professional determines that it is necessary to preserve the life or health of the pregnant person.
South Dakota was the only state with an abortion-related amendment where abortion opponents outraised their counterparts. Life Defense Fund and Students for Life of America, the campaigns registered to oppose the amendment, raised a combined $1 million compared to $637,000 raised by Dakotans for Health, the campaigns registered to support the amendment.