Despite Kamala Harris’ loss, abortion rights activists are celebrating the results of the 2024 election, arguing that abortion rights won.
“When we look at the election results this week, we’ve seen voters in states that are very different from each other, overwhelmingly supporting abortion rights,” Elisabeth Smith, state policy director for the Center for Reproductive Rights, told ABC. News in an interview.
Abortion It was a central issue in Harris’ campaign as he sought to draw a stark contrast between his vision for the country and President-elect Donald Trump. But, according to exit polls, some abortion rights supporters still voted for Trump because of the Roe v. US Supreme Court nominations. Although Wade was overruled.
Battleground states Arizona and Nevada were among 10 abortion states in Tuesday’s vote. Some strategists hypothesized that this would boost turnout among the majority of voters who support legal abortion, helping Democratic candidates in the process.
Democratic vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris delivers a concession speech after the 2024 presidential election on Nov. 6, 2024, on the campus of Howard University in Washington.
Jacquelyn Martin/AP
Trump’s approach, centered on states’ rights, resonated with voters who did not see abortion access as incompatible with a Trump presidency. In Arizona, the 23% who voted “yes” to the initiative enshrining abortion rights in the state constitution also supported Trump. In Nevada, where another abortion rights measure passed, 27% of “yes” voters chose Trump.
This continued at the national level. Among the two-thirds of voters who said abortion should be legal in all or most cases, 28% voted for Trump; that’s 30% in Arizona, 33% in Nevada and 36% in Florida.
Supporters of legal abortion still bitterly tore into Harris, but the partisan elasticity of the issue didn’t cut either side. As Harris made abortion access a central focus of his campaign, he won only 9% of voters who said abortion should be illegal in all or most cases. In Arizona, anti-abortion voters made up 31% of the electorate and 95% supported Trump.
“When you think about what seems like a contradiction, research has shown that Americans — when there’s an abortion vote or a constitutional amendment or initiative to protect abortion — don’t see abortion as a partisan issue,” Smith said. . “Americans see abortion as an issue of freedom and liberty.”
Supporters listen as Vice President Kamala Harris delivers a concession speech after the 2024 presidential election on Nov. 6, 2024, on the campus of Howard University in Washington.
Jacquelyn Martin/AP
“In 2022, 10 percent of Kentucky voters voted against the restrictive constitutional amendment on the ballot and voted for Rand Paul, a senator who has been known to oppose abortion rights,” Smith said.
Trump has also told voters that there will be no federal ban on abortion, and that may convince voters, Smith said.
“I don’t think people know that a federal ban on abortion would preempt state constitutional protections. So I think ‘I’m going to vote yes on this amendment and that means my state is OK,'” Smith. he said
At least 14 states have banned nearly all abortion services since Roe v. Since Wade was overruled. In total, 21 states have abortion restrictions in place.
Seven of the 10 states with abortion on the ballot are expected to vote in favor of abortion rights, and three states are expected to retain abortion restrictions, as the US Supreme Court ruled in Roe v. The first since he overruled Wade. Six states previously voted in favor of abortion rights in the 2022 midterm elections.
Vice President Kamala Harris and President-elect Donald Trump.
AP
In Florida, 57% of voters voted in favor of enshrining abortion rights protections in the state constitution, but the measure did not reach the 60% threshold it needed to pass. However, abortion rights groups hailed the measure as a success, saying the majority of voters supported abortion.
“Abortion won a lot,” Gretchen Borchelt, vice president for reproductive rights and health at the National Women’s Law Center, said at a news conference Wednesday. “If it weren’t for the rigged rules and the deliberate and intentional efforts to confuse and mislead voters and retarget and change the rules, abortion access would certainly win in Florida, but also in Nebraska and South Dakota.”
In Nebraska, two opposing abortion-related amendments on the ballot confused voters, likely contributing to the initiative’s defeat, Smith argued.
“There’s research, outside of the context of abortion, but on ballot initiatives, that when voters are faced with two options on the same question, that creates a lot of confusion about what people are voting for. And in Nebraska, when signatures were being collected, voters were signing petitions for abortion rights. They complained they were told they were and then found out they had signed an anti-abortion rights petition,” Smith said.
Former Republican President Donald Trump arrives for an election night party at the Palm Beach Convention Center on November 6, 2024 in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Evan Vucci/AP
While ballot initiatives have been successful, advocates need to make people more aware that their constituents’ ability to access reproductive health care such as abortion is greatly determined, Kelly Baden, vice president of policy at the Guttmacher Institute, told ABC News in an interview.
“Women are dying because of these abortion bans. And unfortunately, the fact that that reality wasn’t enough for people to prioritize up and down the ballot is a tough pill to swallow,” Baden said. .
“Seven states declared they support abortion, active rights through ballot measures, and I think there’s a bigger conversation about how and why people are able to make sense of their voting patterns. That’s a pre-Trump issue.” said Baden.
ABC News’ Gary Langer contributed to this report.
