NBC News
In the elections last year in the United States, the politicians of the Republican party in terms of Congress and the Presidency were generally winners. But in those same elections, supporters of the right to abortion were successful at the polls throughout the country, with amendments backed in seven states.
However, that will expressed through popular vote has not stopped those who are against abortion.
Several Republican legislators have been promoting measures to restrict the possibility of interrupting a pregnancy in several of those seven states with newly approved amendments.
Republicans are also pushing related bills in other states to make it difficult to decide on the issue in future referendums.
“The attempts of the abortion industry to be deregulated through referendums and popular consultations endanger women and girls,” says Kelsey Pritchard, who runs the Susan B. Group. Anthony Pro-Life America. “Republican leaders in those states with proportion referendums must do everything necessary so that there are health protections and to safeguard women and girls.”
While groups in favor of reproductive rights say that these republican initiatives, even if they do not prosper, contravene what the people said they want through their vote.
“Republicans want to trample the decision of their voters, who decided to support measures of access to abortion clearly through the referendums,” says Yari Aquino, who advises candidates supported by Emily’s List, a national group that promotes in electoral contests to those who support probort measures.
Aquino said that, if the efforts of certain Republicans continue, it would be convenient for the Democratic Party to ensure alive the debate on issues related to the right to abortion for the next intermediate elections at the national level in 2026.
“It is for this reason that the rights to abortion and reproductive rights remain such a current issue,” he says.
In Arizona People voted in November in a majority way that certain rights related to abortion are framed in the State Constitution.
Now republican state legislators are proposing legislation to restrict those decisions.
For example, there is a proposal to establish new requirements to obtain medications that induce abortion. The bill says that the person looking for these medications would have to make several blood tests and go to a thorough review with a doctor to obtain them (although at the federal level the FDA already provides that these medicines are only accessible by recipe supplied in certified pharmacies). Another legislation proposed in Arizona would prohibit doctors and other medical staff who can tell their patients that one of their various legal medical options is abortion.
If a medical or clinical center does not stop informing your patients on all your options, you would face fines, such as removing medical funds granted by state agencies.
Critics of these proposals say they are a way to contravene what the population of Arizona said he wanted through his vote.
“People chose and used their voice to say what they wanted (…) With this the Republicans want to impose what they want,” says Democratic state representative Stephanie Simacek.
Republican congressmen In Missouri They are also preparing a proposal for a referendum at the polls that reverse the referendum approved last November. In that vote the people of Missouri supported constitutionally protect the right to abortion until it is proven that the fetus can survive on their own, backing a almost total prohibition that was before in the state.
Conservative legislators of Missouri also introduced a legislative proposal so that the inhabitants of the State can avoid paying almost everything that is due to their annual taxes – in exchange for donating their balance to centers for pregnancy care. Defenders of the right to abortion say that these centers are designed to discourage those who come there to receive attention to think about the possibility of aborting.
While In Montanawhere access to abortion was also elevated to the State Constitution in the November elections, Republican legislators promoted a law so that it could punish With up to five years in prison To pregnant people who travel from the State to another entity in search of aborting, even if it was for issues such as fetal unfeasibility (for example, in cases where the baby was to be Mortinato). The measure did not prosper after sessions in which several people talked about the consequences that could be in the health of women and minors.
Abortion in Colorado It was already legal for a period of up to 22 weeks, and in November the voters supported that this would be embodied in the State Constitution. However, republican legislators have introduced a law proposal so that it could be considered as a serious crime that a person helped a teenager to travel to that state in search of interrupting a pregnancy. Those who support this restriction ensure, without evidence, that this would be allegedly equivalent to the “traffic” of people.
The voters In Kentuckya Republican State where there is an almost total prohibition against abortion, in any case they rejected an initiative in 2023, choosing that the Constitution was not changed with an amendment that would have explicitly said that there is no right to abortion in the State.
Indisty of that vote, Republican legislators approved a law that several activists said it would reduce the possible exceptions to abortion prohibition even more. The governor, Andy Beshear, exercised his veto against the law, but then the State Congress eliminated that veto through a supermayoria.
While republican congressmen in at least 15 states have promoted other laws in recent weeks so that It is more difficult for certain constitutional amendment proposals They can be considered for electoral referendums.
In Arizona, Missouri and Dakota del Sur there are attempts for the minimum percentage for a referendum to be approved to 60%, when it is currently approved by a simple majority (50% + 1).
In these states, as in Montana, Nebraska, Florida and Arkansas, the Republicans also promote bills so that there are many more requirements to meet the necessary signatures to be considered an issue for a constitutional referendum. (In Florida, Nebraska and South Dakota voted in November constitutional proposals on abortion, which were rejected).
Probort groups and that they defend that people can submit proposals to referendum voting say that this contravenes the rights of voters.
“The measures of electoral referendum have given access to working people to promote changes in red states (mostly Republicans) and purple (divided between Republicans and Democrats), in cases where they feel that the local government does not represent their interests,” says Kelly Hall, executive director of the Fairness Project group.
“Legislators want to undermine that right of people,” he adds. Fairness Project is a non -profit organization that helps progressive groups to promote ticket initiatives, or referendums, through citizen support.
“These politicians know that they cannot win on these issues in voting, then They want to change the rules of the game“Hall says.
