Abortion ballot measure outcomes: Virginia enshrines ‘right’ to abortion in state constitution

In a heartbreaking loss for the pro-life movement and unborn children, Virginia passed Proposed Constitutional Amendment 1 on Nov. 3, enshrining a constitutional “right” to abortion. AP called the race with 94% of the votes counted, reporting that 62.0% (2,125,425) voted yes, and 38.0% (1,304,296) voted no. 

The amendment effectively allows for abortion up to birth. Virginia Catholic bishops had spoken out against the pro-abortion amendment and urged Catholics to vote against it. Amendment 1 has been criticized as “extreme and deceptive” as its language employs the euphemism of “a fundamental right to reproductive freedom” and its effects reach far beyond what proponents have acknowledged or even recognized themselves, conservative legal scholar Ed Whelan had warned in September. 

The amendment constitutionalizes an exception for abortions considered necessary to protect the mother’s physical or mental health, which for many abortionists will not be a limit at all, Whelan warned. He also stressed that it could invalidate the state’s parental consent law for abortions for minors. 

Missouri’s Amendment 3 — the Prohibit Abortion and Gender Transition Procedures for Minors Amendment — failed to pass, with 55.23% (1,154,648) voting against it and 44.77% (936,061) voting in favor. The amendment aimed to repeal the state constitutional “right to reproductive freedom” and prohibit abortions except in medical emergency and other cases, and allow abortions in cases of rape or incest no later than 12 weeks, according to Ballotpedia. The amendment also would have prohibited “gender transition surgeries for minors” and sex-rejecting hormones for minors. 

Marking a pro-life victory with 92% of votes in, the pro-abortion Proposition 1 in Idaho was set to be defeated by 56% who voted against establishing a statutory right to “reproductive freedom and privacy, including the right to an abortion before fetal viability,” according to MultiState Elections.

On track for approval early on Nov. 4 was Nevada’s Question 6, a constitutional abortion rights amendment, with 63.4% voting in favor of establishing "a state constitutional right to abortion until fetal viability," according to FOX 5 Las Vegas. The Archdiocese of Las Vegas had urged Catholics to vote against the amendment. 

According to Las Vegas-based 8News Now, while abortion was already legal in Nevada, the pro-abortion ballot initiative first passed in 2024 and achieved its second required vote to become constitutional amendment through this year's ballot.