“The Constitution does not prohibit the citizens of each State from regulating or prohibiting abortion,” Associate Justice Samuel Alito wrote in the Supreme Court majority striking down 50 years of federal protections for abortion earlier this year.  The words unleashed chaos across the US, throwing countless patients and providers into legal limbo.  By Election Day, abortion was out of reach in more than a quarter of the country, thanks to pre-existing laws that took effect after the Court’s decision. 

Now, citizens have finally had their say: in at least 4 of the 5 states where abortion rights were on the ballot — including the ruby ​​Commonwealth of Kentucky — voters have strengthened protections and rejected measures that would have put new restrictions on the procedure .  (In the No. 5 state, Montana, where final results are not yet available, it also looks promising.)

Voters in Vermont and California both moved to enshrine the right to abortion in their state constitutions — victories that, given the states’ political makeup, weren’t particularly surprising.  But Michigan followed suit, passing a measure that protects a woman’s right to make reproductive decisions and prohibits prosecution for exercising that right.  The measure also is important to override any state laws that might conflict with it.  That means an existing 1931 abortion law on the books in Michigan, which the state’s Republican House members and some county attorneys wanted to enforce, will now be repealed. 

Even more consistent, however, was the apparent triumph for reproductive rights in Kentucky, where abortion has been illegal since the Supreme Court’s ruling in June.  Kentucky voters soundly rejected an initiative that would have stripped protections from their constitution and opened the way for lawmakers to further curtail the process, according to local projections.  Rachel Sweet, campaign manager for Protect Kentucky Access, the group that worked to defeat the proposed amendment, called the victory “historic.”

“Not only does it represent a victory against government overreach and government interference in the personal medical decisions of the people of Kentucky, but it represents the first time that so many different organizations have come together with such intense single-minded purpose to defeat a threat of this magnitude.  Sweet said in a statement.  “Kentuckians have spoken and politicians in Frankfurt should listen.”

The impact of the outcome in Kentucky can’t be understated: medical providers had previously launched a legal challenge to the six-week abortion ban, but the Kentucky Supreme Court said it would not hear arguments in the case until after the election.  (Another victory for advocates in the state: Joseph Fischer, a former Republican congressman and one of the key figures behind the state’s extreme anti-abortion legislation, looks poised to lose his campaign for a Supreme Court seat.)

Only one ballot measure remains up in the air at press time: the “Medical Care Requirements for Live Born Infants,” a pre-Dobbs rollback sent to Montana voters after the state legislature passes it in 2021. If passed , the law would impose fines and jail time on doctors or nurses who do not make every effort to keep newborns with no chance of survival alive for as long as possible.  Health professionals in the state opposed the proposed measure, saying it would prevent them from doing their jobs and cause unnecessary pain to parents who wish to hold their children in their arms in their final moments.

On this side of Tuesday’s election, it’s clear that the vast majority of voters want protections against abortion.  But it wasn’t all good news for reproductive rights advocates: The anti-abortion measures may have been shot down by voters, but a string of hard-line officials were elected and re-elected across the country, including Sen. Marco Rubio in Florida, Gov. Greg Abbott in Texas, Governor Brian Kemp in Georgia and Eric Schmidt, the new senator from Missouri.