Ballot initiatives protecting access to abortion win across five states in midterms

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Voters across the country backed a series of ballot initiatives on Tuesday protecting access to abortion. 

The results were largely uniform from California to Montana to Michigan. Voters backed proposals to enshrine abortion rights into law, while simultaneously striking down efforts by conservatives to restrict the practice. 

"Democracy wasn’t on the ballot, but abortion was, and it seems that the democracy has spoken in favor of abortion," said Adrian Vermuele, a conservative legal scholar at Harvard University.  

In Michigan, voters passed a ballot initiative creating a right to abortion within the state's constitution. The initiative, which passed by roughly double digits, according to the Michigan Board of Elections, also strikes down a 1931 law that bans abortion. 

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"We affirmed we are a true freedom state," said California Gov. Gavin Newsom. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)

Voters backed similar ballot measures in Vermont and California enshrining abortion rights into their respective state constitutions. 

"We affirmed we are a true freedom state," said Gov. Gavin Newsom, D-Calif. 

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In Republican-led Kentucky and Montana, meanwhile, voters struck down ballot initiatives seeking to restrict access to abortion. 

Kentucky's citizens opted against amending the state constitution to clarify there is no right to abortion or a requirement for the government to fund the practice. The initiative failed by a 52-47% margin with nearly 90% of votes counted. 

Voters backed ballot initiatives on Tuesday to protect abortion access, while simultaneously striking down efforts by conservatives to restrict the practice. (Jerry Holt/Star Tribune)

Montana's voters, on the other hand, are poised to reject a ballot measure codifying into state law federal protections for infants born after a botched abortion. The initiative would have defined an infant "alive" at any gestational age as a legal person. 

It would have also instituted criminal penalties for health care providers that did not provide life-saving care to infants born during an attempted abortion. 

While votes are still outstanding and the ballot initiative has not been officially rejected, opponents have a healthy lead. 

The ballot measures were proposed in response to the Supreme Court's decision earlier this year to overturn Roe v. Wade. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)

"Abortion mattered so, so much more in this election than pundits and pollsters understood," said Sawyer Hacket, a Democratic political strategist. 

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The ballot measures were proposed in response to the Supreme Court's decision earlier this year to overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 ruling that made abortion legal nationwide. By striking down Roe, the nation's highest court essentially gave the states wide jurisdiction to regulate abortion.