Florida this spring joined other states that have successfully, or are aiming to, put abortion on the ballot for voters in November — a winning issue for Democrats in the post-Roe era.
The big picture: The Florida Supreme Court’s tumultuous rulings on abortion have posed enormous questions for the future of access in the South, as the U.S. has shifted to a scattershot model of bans and protections since 2022.
- The Florida situation — where women will face a six-week ban starting May 1 through at least year’s end — is a post-Dobbs novelty in its own right.
- “We haven’t seen this setup yet in which people will be living under a very strict abortion law and then head to the polls to vote on essentially overturning that,” Laurie Sobel, associate director of women’s health policy at KFF, told Axios.
- At least 11 other states have either greenlighted or are seeking to approve ballot questions on abortion. Iowa, Pennsylvania and Maine also have attempted to get abortion measures on ballots, but hurdles make it unlikely.