By now, thousands of pro-life Americans have descended on Washington, D.C., for the 51st March for Life. It’s an annual pilgrimage for some and a new experience for others. It’s a unique gathering — one that refuses to be defeated by repeated electoral losses. But as hopeful, joyful, and prayerful as the marchers always are, they can’t seem to convince Americans to love abortion any less.
Pro-life efforts lost in 2023 — most notably in Ohio, where a ballot proposal added the right to abortion to the state Constitution. Virginia and Kentucky suffered setbacks too, with Virginia Gov. Glenn Younkin unable to pass a 15-week abortion ban and pro-abortion Gov. Andy Beshear winning reelection in Kentucky.
This year, abortion will once again be on the ballot. Pro-abortion activists in 11 states are submitting — or have submitted — petitions for ballot proposals that would create a constitutional right to abortion.
Making Abortion an Issue, Even When It Isn’t
By returning the issue to the states, the Dobbs decision shifted the focus of pro-abortion activists to constitutional amendments. With plenty of states permitting direct democracy via ballot proposal, it’s an easy way to skip the states altogether and put the issue before the people themselves, not their representatives. As of yet, no pro-life ballot constitutional amendment has succeeded, and no pro-abortion amendment has failed.
Several states are simply aiming to duplicate existing abortion laws, taking advantage of the comparative difficulty of revoking a constitutional right as opposed to simply changing a law via normal legislative action.
In New York, pro-abortion activists are pushing an “equal rights amendment” that would establish a constitutional right to abortion and “expressly link sex discrimination and reproductive rights to LGBTQ+ rights.” In Maryland, too, where abortion has been permitted up to viability (with plenty of flexibility later to obtain an abortion later in pregnancy, too) for over 30 years, pro-abortion activists have introduced a constitutional amendment. Just in case.
In Colorado, abortion is already fully legal. But pro-abortion activists want even more abortions — and they want taxpayers to pay for them. Currently, Colorado prohibits the public funding of abortions, which means that state employees or residents on Medicaid can’t obtain abortions covered by insurance. A ballot proposal set to launch next Monday would create a constitutional right and make it a crime to “prohibit[] health insurance coverage for abortion.”
After submitting the proposal to the Colorado General Assembly, the state’s legislative council and Office of Legislative Legal Services provided review and comment on the petition. Two comments are of particular interest: “What does it mean to recognize the right of abortion?” and “What entities are covered by the term ‘government’?” It’s almost as if these proposed amendments are intentionally vague…
Fighting Abortion Bans in Red States
In several states with total abortion bans, activists are attempting to reopen the issue. In Arkansas, activists are working to drum up support for a ballot proposal that would establish a constitutional right to abortion through 18 weeks. Abortion is also banned without exception in Missouri, where several petitions to expand abortion access have been proposed, each with a different measure.
And South Dakota, a state with a total abortion ban, will see a ballot proposal for abortion access through first trimester and allowing some abortion access through the second trimester. Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) are not supporting the proposal because, that’s right, it “doesn’t go far enough.”
Given that these states managed to end the industrialized slaughter of the unborn within their borders following the Dobbs decision, it’s unlikely that these ballot initiatives will pass. But Planned Parenthood and other major pro-abortion organizations have seemingly endless resources to pour into campaigns and ballot initiatives. If they don’t win this year, they’ll keep trying until they succeed.
Moving the Goal Posts
Just as pro-lifers have come to terms with the necessity of incrementalism, or working toward the eradication of abortion gradually by building consensus, pro-abortion activists are using a similar strategy in several states.
Pro-abortion activists in Arizona are collecting signatures for a constitutional amendment guaranteeing the right to abortion up to fetal viability. The state currently prohibits abortion after 15 weeks. Pro-abortion activists in Nebraska are also aiming to expand the state’s 12-week abortion ban to a constitutional right to abortion up to viability.
Earlier this year, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis managed to pass a six-week abortion ban in Florida, where several laws are tied up in the state Supreme Court. A group called “Floridians Protecting Freedom” has already obtained the signatures necessary for a ballot proposal that would establish a constitutional right to abortion up to fetal viability. (RELATED: The Next Battle Over Abortion May Be Coming to Florida)
In Nevada and Montana, abortion advocates are seeking to duplicate existing abortion laws in order to make further restrictions less likely. In Nevada, where abortion is legal up to 24 weeks, abortion advocates are pushing a constitutional amendment to guarantee a right to abortion before fetal viability. In Montana, too, Planned Parenthood is constructing a constitutional amendment that would duplicate the existing state law, which permits abortion up to viability.
It’s safe to say that 2024 will be a big electoral year for pro-life advocates, not least because of the presidential race. Perhaps, if nothing else, this will be the year that Republicans start to reconsider the use of ballot proposals, which turn matters of life and death for millions of unborn children into a popularity contest. After all, the greatest statesmen of Western civilization have always found good reason to doubt the justice of direct democracy — perhaps because it is little more than tyranny.
Mary Frances Myler is a writer from Northern Michigan now living in Washington, D.C. She graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 2022.
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