Fighting for Reproductive Freedom Locally Through Direct Democracy in a Post-Roe Era
WASHINGTON — Today, in honor of the 52nd anniversary of the Supreme Court’s 1973 ruling on Roe v. Wade, which was overturned in 2022, the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center (BISC) encourages communities to use their power and to turn towards ballot measures to protect and advance reproductive freedom in their states and local communities.
BISC Executive Director Chris Melody Fields Figueredo issued the following statement:
“Earlier this week we lost legendary reproductive rights advocate Cecile Richards, who understood that abortion is essential healthcare and Roe was the floor, not the ceiling. Last year, we saw the most abortion-related measures on the ballot in a single election year and seven states voted to protect reproductive care in their state constitutions. With their rights under attack at the national level, voters took power into their own hands—legislating directly by passing ballot measures to protect and expand abortion in their states.
“However, as the months since have shown, conservative politicians are now trying to undermine our voices by blocking the implementation of these measures. First, they came for our rights in the Supreme Court—and now they’re coming for our votes. We won’t look the other way. We will continue to hold them to account until the will of the people becomes the law of the land.”
Examples of current efforts to undermine November’s abortion ballot measure wins:
- Maryland: Ballot Question 1, or the Right to Reproductive Freedom, is currently being challenged in the state legislature by a bill that seeks to ban abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detected.
- Missouri: Amendment 3, or the Right to Reproductive Freedom, is being compromised at the hands of Missouri lawmakers who have already filed dozens of proposals to limit the terms of the amendment — or even overturn it altogether.
- Montana: Following the passing of Montana Amendment CI-128, which codified the right to abortion into the state constitution, Representative Lee Deming (R) filed a bill draft request to legally define a “person” as beginning at conception or fertilization. If passed, this bill would classify abortion as murder and would endanger in vitro fertilization practices in the state.
For more information on the state of abortion ballot initiatives, please visit BISC’s Ballot Measure Hub.