Here’s Why Abortion Largely Won on Election Day—But Not on the Top of the Ticket

Here’s why abortion won on election day, but not at the top of the ticket

Who Kelly Baden

For reproductive health advocates, there is a stark contradiction at the center of the 2024 election. Most pro-abortion ballot initiatives passed, and The American people re-elected a responsible president turn over Roe v. Wade through his Supreme Court appointments.

How to reconcile this contradiction? In many ways the results reflect that complicated dynamics of a postOrcaza America

in the year two and a half years Since we lost our federal constitutional right to abortion with the Supreme Court Dobbs the decision, legal landscape it has been turned over, together 13 states Today, they ban abortion completely and many others ban abortion at various points in pregnancy that would be unconstitutional. Orcaza. The consequences have not been harmful, as such announced by scientific evidence. they include documented tragic deaths at least four womenhas denial of attention for women experiencing pregnancy complications, and increase criminalization and surveillance of pregnant people. At the same time, it has the number of abortions get up. It is likely the result of enormous efforts by clinics, abortion funds and practical support organizations to expand access to care and reduce stigma, as well as wider availability. telehealth for abortion medication and new support policies in the protection states, protection laws that provide protection to abortion providers who treat patients in other states. through telemedicine and removing the public insurance coverage restrictions that make abortion care cheaper.

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A quick fix offers no escape from this complicated legal and political landscape. No one can restore our rights fully or as we should have Orcaza stand up—bring us closer to true abortion access for all. All that is needed to bring about deep and lasting change is the steady, ongoing organizational work, state by state. Ballot measures have become a key tool: between June 2022 Dobbs decision and in November 2023, where the voters of the seven states abortion measures were on the ballot came down firmly in favor of maintaining or expanding abortion rights. After the November voteDobbs Finally, the winning streak of pro-abortion ballot measures was broken, with seven new pro-abortion measures passing and three failing. In short, voters in 13 states (Montana had measures in 2022 and 2024) have used direct democracy to assert their desire for legal abortion, in clear opposition. Dobbs the decision

Those results show that voters are comfortable splitting tickets, both in terms of candidates (for example, Wisconsin voters returned Trump to Washington. Senator Tammy Baldwinchampion of abortion rights) but also when it comes to abortion rights ballot measures. In Missouri, 52 percent of voters supported establishing a constitutional right to abortion, making Missouri the first to clear the way for a total repeal of the ban. With their equal votes, more than 58 percent of voters supported Donald Trump. Also, 57.8 percent of voters approved of Montana’s abortion rights ballot measure, with 58.4 percent of those voting in favor of Trump.

This is not new. People often vote for or against an issue when presented directly to them on a standalone ballot measure, while also voting for a candidate with opposing views and policies. In 2011, Mississippi voters well reject an anti-abortion “personhood” ballot measure that would legally define human life as beginning at fertilization, banning abortion and threatening access to in vitro fertilization and some forms of birth control. The same election was won by anti-abortion Republicans almost all state level races as well as voter identification requirements, echoing the anti-voting trends we still see today.

These results clearly indicate that people support abortion, even where legislators do not. If the goal is to remove abortion from partisan politics, we’re making progress. But if our goal is greater—and it should be—we should do much more. Support for reproductive rights can be a gateway for voters to understand and ultimately embrace a broader framework of social justice, centering freedom and bodily autonomy in their politics. While divisive ballot voting may continue, it also tells us that we must connect the dots between abortion and other issues to reach Americans who need to take reproductive freedom protections further. economic justice and democracy.

Of course, gallant disinformation, disinformation and our very fragmented media landscape—the news and viewpoints that echo our opinions that individual algorithms lead us all to largely consume—each provides the challenging context in which we vote. Failures in basic civics meant that Trump wanted to “return abortion to the states.” accepted as truth or as truth to voters old enough to allow him to accept his racism and sexism, despite his pro-abortion. Trump himself used this to his advantage, deliberately distancing himself from the failure of his movements when their unpopularity became clear.

Make no mistake: anti-abortionists aim to increase reproductive rights and access, despite clear public support for legal abortion.

These are the bans on abortion inextricably linked being treated differently under the law because of race. The current abortion ban continue The anti-indigenous and pro-slavery themes of our nation’s founding capture the idea that the state should exercise control over our bodies and reproduction, especially for people of color and other marginalized communities. And while abortion opponents continue to raise fears of falling white birth rates Aimed at blacks especially to criminalize the results of pregnancy. Our work to make that clear must be stepped up, especially for the 53 percent of white women who voted for Trump. We cannot applaud abortion vote gains and ignore the fact that they are accompanied by the explicit endorsement of racist candidates and policies.

Unraveling the many lessons of the 2024 election will take time, but time is not on our side: While most Americans support abortion rights, we are on the precipice of even more destructive sexual and reproductive rights policies in the US and around the world. . It will likely be the next Trump presidency tell me more reproductive rights and access—may direct federal agencies to restrict use safe and legal abortion drug mifepristonefor example, even for states that have protected and expanded abortion rights. We must be vigilant in resisting all attempts to escalate the abortion access crisis by declaring that protection of abortion rights is the only stop on the road to freedom for all.

This is an opinion and analysis article, and the views expressed by the author(s) are not necessarily their own. American scientific