US: Voters back state proposals to secure abortion rights

US midterm voters strongly backed ballot initiatives in four US states on amending state constitutions to secure abortion rights, which was a major issue this year after the US Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion in June. 

Ballot initiatives allow voters to directly voice their opinions on key issues, which eventually can shape how laws are passed on either the state or federal levels. 

Voters in California, Michigan and Vermont said they strongly backed amendments to their state constitutions.

Surprise result in Kentucky

In Kentucky, a Republican stronghold, voters rejected a proposed amendment to the state constitution that would have made it harder to challenge abortion restrictions in the state. 

Kentucky already has one of the most restrictive policies on abortion in the US. Abortion was banned in Kentucky after the Supreme Court overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling. It is allowed only in life-threatening cases.

While rejecting the ballot initiative does not protect access to abortion, it prevented an abortion ban from being legally enshrined in the state constitution.

Support for abortion rights post-Roe

"Across the country, we saw an unmistakable repudiation of the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe," Nancy Northup, the president of the Center for Reproductive Rights, told AFP news agency. 

According to AP VoteCast, a nationwide survey of 90,000 people, about two-thirds of US voters say abortion should be legal in most or all cases. 

Only about 1 in 10 say abortion should be illegal in all cases.

rm/wmr(AP, AFP)