Support for abortion rights turned out to be a key issue after all

Signs from a protestin Washington, DC, on Oct. 8

- 

Voters in red states, blue states, purple states, coastal states and interior states have made it resoundingly clear that they don’t want the near-total abortion bans currently being pushed across post-Roe America.

Abortion referendums were on the ballot in four US states during the midterms. In every case, Americans supported the strengthening of reproductive rights. In California, Michigan and Vermont, by wide margins, voters approved measures that “enshrine reproductive freedom” in their state constitutions, keeping abortion largely legal and available in those states. In Kentucky, a state that hasn’t supported a Democratic presidential candidate in more than 25 years, a measure seeking to amend the constitution to include “no right to an abortion” failed.