This week's question was, How many abortion-related ballot measures have been certified for the ballot so far this year?

You answered: 3.
The correct answer was 5.

There will be at least five abortion-related measures on the ballot this year, including the first two ballot measures to explicitly provide constitutional rights to abortion. This is the largest number of abortion-related ballot measures on record for a single year.

Here are summaries of those five measures:

• California: Proposition 1 says the state cannot “deny or interfere with an individual’s reproductive freedom in their most intimate decisions,” including decisions to have an abortion or to choose or refuse contraceptives. Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) and legislative leaders called for the amendment on May 2, following the leak of the draft opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Center.

• Kansas: this measure would amend constitutional language to say that nothing in the state constitution creates a right to abortion or requires government funding for abortions. The amendment would also give the legislature the power to pass laws regarding abortion. Legislative sponsors introduced the amendment in response to the Kansas Supreme Court’s ruling in Hodes & Nauser v. Schmidt (2019), which held that the Kansas Bill of Rights provides a right to an abortion.

• Kentucky: like Kansas, this proposal would change constitutional language to say nothing in the state constitution provides a right to abortion or requires government funding for the procedure. Unlike Kansas, there has not been a state court ruling providing such a right, though the ACLU, Planned Parenthood, and others filed a lawsuit on June 27 arguing the constitution provides such a right.

• Montana: LR-131 would provide in state law that infants born alive at any stage of development are legal persons. The measure would also require medical care to be provided to infants born alive after an induced labor, cesarean section, attempted abortion, or another method.

• Vermont: Proposal 5 would amend the state constitution to provide that “an individual’s right to personal reproductive autonomy is central to the liberty and dignity to determine one’s own life course.” Eileen Sullivan, communications director for the Planned Parenthood Vermont Action Fund, said her organization began preparing the measure following the retirement of Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy in 2018.

More measures may follow. Campaigns in Colorado and Michigan are collecting signatures for abortion-related measures. Michigan’s signature deadline passed on July 11 and Colorado’s is set for Aug. 8.

Thanks for your response!