CV NEWS FEED // A pro-life ballot measure failed and several pro-abortion amendments succeeded during Tuesday’s midterms, representing a significant spate of losses for the pro-life movement in the first general election since the repeal of Roe vs. Wade.
Kentucky’s Amendment 2, which would have amended the commonwealth’s constitution to state explicitly that there is no “right” to abortions, was rejected by voters. “As of 11:40 p.m. EST, the New York Times reported 82% of votes counted, with 52.8% voting ‘no’ and 47.2% voting ‘yes,’” reported Katie Yoder of the Catholic News Agency.
“Vermont will be among the first states to enshrine abortion rights in its constitution, according to a local news outlet that reported a pro-abortion proposal in that state passed Tuesday,” Yoder also reported:
VTDigger, which covers news in Vermont and is a project of The Vermont Journalism Trust, Ltd., announced that Article 22, also known as Proposal 5, passed in that state through a ballot initiative during the midterm elections.
“With more than 142,000 votes counted, ‘yes’ votes for Proposal 5 outnumbered ‘no’ votes by a margin of 72%-22%, according to a preliminary vote count released by the Secretary of State’s Office at 9:10 p.m. Tuesday,” the outlet reported. “Roughly 5% left the question blank.”
In Michigan, pro-abortion Proposal 3 passed “with 54% of people voting yes with 46% of people voting no and 46% of the vote in” as of early Wednesday morning, according to Detroit ABC News affiliate WXYZ.
The controversial measure amends the state’s constitution to guarantee that “every individual has a fundamental right to reproductive freedom,” including decisions regarding “prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, contraception, sterilization, abortion care, miscarriage management, and infertility care.”
Over in California, SF Gate reported that Proposal 1, which “changes the California Constitution to say that the state cannot deny or interfere with a person’s reproductive freedom” and that “people have the fundamental right to choose … whether or not to have an abortion [and] whether or not to use contraceptives,” has also been projected as a win for the abortion movement:
The final tally on Prop. 1 won’t be known for quite some time — possibly weeks — but first returns made it abundantly clear that the electorate supported a “yes” vote by a wide margin. Both ABC News and NBC News quickly made a projection on the measure….
These controversial measures were hotly contested in the leadup to Tuesday’s votes. Tyler O’Neil of the Daily Signal reported last week that Vermont’s Proposal 5 and Michigan’s Proposal 3 both contain language asserting a “right” to “transgender” medical interventions, of which many voters were likely unaware.
Critics have said that the fine print of the two amendments would circumvent parental rights and make children vulnerable to so-called “transgender treatments.”
At a rally last week, former Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard warned Michiganders to reject Proposal 3. The measure overturns a law requiring abortion facilities “to be licensed and inspected for the health and safety of women,” allows for “infanticide,” and “also overturns a law that requires parents to know if their child is pursuing an abortion or gender hormone therapies,” Gabbard said.