COLLEGE PARK — Maryland became one of seven states to codify abortion rights in their constitution this week, joining a wave of pro-choice votes in the wake of a Republican sweep.
Across the country, ten states included abortion-related referendums on their ballots, with only three states failing to pass an expansion of reproductive rights.
“I’m so proud to be a Marylander right now,” said Erin Bradley, chairperson for Freedom in Reproduction Maryland. “Maryland voters last night came together to make sure that the rights and freedoms that are so important to them remain rights and freedoms that they could always access.”
Bradley also expressed her support for referendums passed in other states and congratulated the work of the activists involved.
The vote follows extensive campaign spending and messaging from Democrats to attempt to increase voter turnout by focusing on abortion rights. Vice President Kamala Harris spoke in various speeches about the right to reproductive freedom while campaigning, encouraging voters to make abortion a top priority.
According to reporting from the Associated Press, many Democrats believed that abortion rights would win the election for the Democratic Party and increase voter turnout — almost guaranteeing a win for Harris.
However, multiple red states voted in favor of pro-choice referendums, indicating that voters might view the issue differently than pollsters and pundits believed.
“I think that it shows that abortion and reproductive health care is just that, it’s healthcare,” said Bradley. “Maryland voters came out unified to push back against the politicization of health care and say that this right … to reproductive health care is an important value, and is important to Marylanders.”
While the nation saw widespread support for reproductive rights through the passage of referendums, Democrats may have misjudged how abortion would impact votes at the federal level.
According to data from AP VoteCast, a survey by the Associated Press to over 120,000 voters across the nation, abortion was the most important issue to only 8% to 13% of voters in states with a reproductive rights referendum on the ballot.
Missouri and Montana, two states that gave their electoral votes to Trump, approved amendments to protect the right to have an abortion up to the point of fetal viability, and to protect the life of the pregnant woman.
Nebraska, a traditionally red state, placed two opposing referendums on its ballot, one in support of abortion rights and one limiting it. Nebraska’s approved amendment limits abortion after the first trimester unless medically necessary or in cases of sexual assault or incest, with the other falling short of 50% of the vote.
Maryland, a blue state with primarily Democratic elected officials, approved a more progressive version.
The Maryland amendment says that “every person, as a central component of an individual’s rights to liberty and equality, has the fundamental right to reproductive freedom, including but not limited to the ability to make and effectuate decisions to prevent, continue, or end one’s own pregnancy.”
The state “may not, directly or indirectly, deny, burden, or abridge the right unless justified by a compelling State interest achieved by the least restrictive means.”
In Maryland, faith also played a large role in the life-cycle of the amendment. As CNS reported this fall, religious leaders were a defining voice in this issue both for and against the referendum.
The president of the Maryland Family Institute, Jeffrey Trimbath, expressed his disappointment at its passing, echoing previously reported concerns that the amendment’s broad language will be used to reduce regulations on gender-affirming surgeries and abortions for minors.
“It is a sad day for life, parents and women in Maryland,” Trimbath said to CNS over email. “In light of the results tonight, we, along with our pro-life allies, will recommit to fighting for life in Maryland’s communities. We will also defend those who stand for life, including lifesaving pregnancy resource centers.”
Their efforts are not over, he said.
“Working with our national legal partners,” he said, “we will look for legal opportunities to defend life, religious liberty and parental rights at the state and federal level.”
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