Pearl River The end of Roe v. Wade by the Supreme Court has moved the battle over choice to the states, and it’s a fierce back and forth, no-holds-barred contest. We almost need a scorecard to keep up with this campaign.
Where voters have the right, largely in Western and Southern states, to petition to put the question of abortion on the ballot, many of these efforts have succeeded or are in various states of progress. Voters in all seven states that have had abortion questions before voters since 2022 — California, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Montana, Ohio and Vermont — have sided with abortion rights supporters. At least five states seem to have finalized measure that will be on the ballot this fall: Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Nevada, and South Dakota. Other efforts are still collecting signatures or waiting for verification in Arizona, Missouri, and Nebraska.
Arkansas is yet another situation. Organizers submitted signatures that they believed were sufficient. The Republican Secretary of State issued an opinion rejecting the signatures as insufficient after discounting those collected by professional gatherers so that advocates fell just short of the required number. The claim was based on a technicality of whether or not they had certified that those canvassers had been trained and so forth. Proponents claim everything was in order and seem to infer political hanky-panky, and reportedly are reviewing their legal options to challenge the decision. Arkansas observers say that the fix has been in on this measure – and many others – since the legislature added obstacles to the process. The Attorney General held up the measure for months on language issues, narrowing the signature window, and were likely prepared to block the measure on other grounds had the signatures been approved.
In Kansas, our old nemesis, Kris Kobach, who rose literally from the political death of multiple loses for Senate and Governor to win a consolation prize election as Attorney General, filed a Hail Mary suit to try to defend legislative efforts to undue the voters’ approval with the state supreme court. The Kansas Supreme Court essentially told him, good try, but no soap, and sent him back empty-handed.
Meanwhile, all reports indicate that even with the end of Roe the rate of total abortions has not decreased despite the obstacles placed before women in many states by legislative bans. Former President Trump in reading the opposition of voters to the end of Roe even in red states made sure the plank for the Republican platform was weakened. Trump has also rejected a federal ban, which the most hardcore anti-abortion advocates had sought. Democrats continue to see this issue as advantageous to their prospects.
This fight is clearly a long way from over and is going to continue to be waged in the trenches for years to come.