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Abortion rights ballot measures pass in 7 states, fail in 3
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Abortion rights ballot measures pass in 7 states, fail in 3

Constitutional amendments to protect or expand abortion were adopted in seven of the ten states where they were voted on Tuesday, NBC News Projects.

The voters Arizona And Missouri approved ballot initiatives that will effectively protect the right to abortion until fetal viability and overturn existing abortion laws. But the voters Florida, Nebraska And South Dakota rejected proposed amendments that would have done the same – becoming the first pro-abortion rights ballot measures to fail since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022.

Meanwhile, Maryland voters, MontanaNevada and New York (where abortion is already legal thanks to fetal viability) and Colorado (where there are no laws restricting abortion and no gestation limits for women seeking abortion) have adopted measures which will formally enshrine these existing rights. Organizers said the amendments were intended to prevent lawmakers from rolling back existing protections in the future.

In Nebraska, two competing abortion-related measures appeared on the general election ballot. The one voters approved would protect the right to abortion in the first trimester while banning the procedure in the second and third trimesters, except in medical emergencies or when pregnancies are the result of sexual assault or incest. The passage effectively codifies existing state law prohibiting abortion after 12 weeks of pregnancy, with limited exceptions, into the state constitution.

The other amendment, which would have enshrined the right to abortion until fetal viability in the conservative state’s constitution, was rejected.

Amendment defeats in Florida, Nebraska and South Dakota ended what had been an unbroken winning streak for ballot measures supporting abortion rights in the two and a half years since Roe fell.

In Florida, voters rejected a ballot initiative that would have banned restrictions on abortion before fetal viability and would have included exceptions beyond that point for “the health of the patient, as determined by the patient’s health care provider.”

Under Florida law, the measure required support from 60 percent of voters rather than a simple majority. With 96% of votes expected, the abortion rights amendment received 57% support.

Its failure preserves the State six-week ban on abortion, which includes exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the woman.

In South Dakota, the amendment proposed on the ballot would have legalized abortion in all situations during the first trimester of pregnancy. It would have allowed state “regulation” of second-trimester abortion, but such regulation “must be reasonably related to the physical health of the pregnant woman.” The amendment would have allowed “regulation or prohibition” by the state during the third trimester, except in cases where a physician determined that care would be necessary to “preserve the life or health” of the woman.

South Dakota has a near-total ban on abortion, which came back into effect after Roe was overturned in 2022. The ban, which abortion rights groups say is among the most restrictive laws of the country, bans all abortions except when necessary to save the woman’s life.

This story was originally published on NBCNews.com.