Voters in four states will decide whether to expand or restrict access to abortion in their states during the 2026 midterm elections, four years after the Supreme Court overturned federal abortion protections under Roe v. Wade.
Virginians, Idahoans, and Nevadans will vote on whether to pass ballot initiatives protecting abortion access in their respective states, while Missourians will decide whether to repeal their reproductive freedom constitutional amendment to set gestational age limits on abortion.
The four abortion ballot measures are part of a litany of initiatives filed after the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision that overturned Roe in 2022 and led to some state legislatures imposing new restrictions on abortion.
Abortion-rights advocates fared favorably in state ballot measures each year after Dobbs until 2024, when voters in Florida, South Dakota, and Nebraska kept abortion gestational age limits in place.
Despite the fervor behind the early post-Dobbs abortion rights amendments and the anti-abortion campaigns to defeat them, the four abortion-related ballot measures in the 2026 elections have gotten significantly less attention than those from years past.
That’s in part because abortion is no longer a top priority for voters, particularly Democrats.
A Pew Research Center poll from early October found that Democratic rankings of the importance of abortion fell by 26 percentage points over the last four years, with only 49% of Democrats today saying abortion is “very important,” compared to 75% in 2022.
Among Republicans, the issue has slightly increased in importance, from 39% in 2022 to 43% in 2026.
Meanwhile, national anti-abortion groups that back Republican candidates have spent more resources this election cycle on maintaining the GOP majority in the House and Senate instead of working to defeat the abortion-rights initiatives in Idaho, Virginia, and Nevada.
Kelsey Pritchard, spokeswoman for the super PAC arm of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, told the Washington Examiner that Democrats at the federal level intend to codify a federal right to abortion.
“We have to win everything we can in the states, but there’s a plan that the Democrats have that would undo all of it very quickly,” Pritchard said, adding that abortion opponents “need to make sure that there isn’t just a state plan in the pro-life movement. There’s a national plan in the pro-life movement.
Here is everything to know about the abortion ballot initiatives in the states this year.
Virginia
Virginia’s Amendment 1 would enshrine a “fundamental right to reproductive freedom” into the commonwealth’s constitution, which would include fertility care, birth control, and abortion.
Virginia already allows abortions up to 28 weeks of pregnancy, making it the most permissive state in the Southeast on abortion policy.
Critics of Amendment 1 highlight that the measure would make obtaining an abortion during the third trimester easier by removing existing rules that require two additional consulting physicians to attest that continuing the pregnancy “is likely to result in the death of the woman or substantially and irremediably impair the mental or physical health of the woman.”
The language of Amendment 1 specifies that a third-trimester abortion only requires “the professional judgment of a physician” and can be performed “to protect the life or physical or mental health of the pregnant individual.”
Opponents of the amendment also argue that the sweeping reproductive freedom language of the amendment could be used in future litigation to overturn existing safety measures, such as requiring parental consent and notification for minors to receive an abortion or medical standards for abortion facilities.
A simple majority is required to pass the amendment.
Anti-abortion activists rally outside of the U.S. Supreme Court during the March for Life in Washington, Friday, Jan. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
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Anti-abortion activists rally outside of the U.S. Supreme Court during the March for Life in Washington, Friday, Jan. 23, 2026. (Jose Luis Magana/AP Photo)
Missouri
Amendment 3, the abortion-related amendment in Missouri, would repeal the constitutional right to abortion that voters enshrined via ballot measure in 2024.
In 2024, a narrow 52% of Missourians voted to create a “fundamental right to reproductive freedom,” which includes prenatal care, birth control, and abortion. Abortion is currently legal in Missouri up to the point of fetal viability, or the point at which the fetus can survive “by natural or artificial life-supportive systems” independent of its mother.
Amendment 3 would repeal the 2024 reproductive freedom amendment and allow the state legislature to enact laws restricting or prohibiting abortion throughout pregnancy, except in cases of “medical emergency, fetal anomaly, rape, or incest.” Under Amendment 3, abortion in the case of rape or incest would only be allowed in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.
Amendment 3 would also prohibit gender transition medical procedures for minors, including puberty-blocking drugs, cross-sex hormones, and gender transition surgeries. It would pass with a simple majority vote.
Abortion rights advocates have expended significant resources to oppose Amendment 3. The largest opposition group, Stop the Ban, has spent more than $10 million, according to its October campaign filings. Meanwhile, anti-abortion groups have only spent roughly $3.5 million to support the initiative.
But supporters of Amendment 3 have received a boost from Gov. Mike Kehoe (R-MO) and Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), which anti-abortion advocates say is critical to getting voters to understand the stakes of the issue before Election Day.
Hawley shared a campaign video in favor of Amendment 3 on his X profile on Oct. 15, urging Missourians to vote yes on the measure.
“In less than three weeks, we have the chance in Missouri to ban late-term abortions and stop crazy transgender surgeries on minor children,” Hawley said.
Idaho
Idaho voters will weigh a citizen-led ballot initiative called the Reproductive Freedom and Privacy Act, referred to as Proposition 1, to roll back restrictions on abortion enacted following the Dobbs decision.
Currently, Idaho prohibits elective abortion at all stages of pregnancy, with the only exception being to prevent the death of the mother.
If passed by a simple majority, Proposition 1 would legalize abortion through fetal viability, or the point at which a fetus can survive independently without extraordinary medical intervention.
The state could restrict abortion after viability except in a medical emergency, which is defined by the statute as a physical problem that “complicates the physical medical condition of a pregnant patient.” Medical emergencies are “determined on a case-by-case basis” and “on the basis of a physician’s good faith medical judgment.”
Unlike in Missouri or Virginia, Proposition 1 is only a legislative statute rather than an amendment to the state’s constitution, which means it can be overturned by the state legislature and governor.
Idaho’s current abortion law was thrust into the national spotlight during a 2024 Supreme Court case concerning whether federal emergency care laws require hospitals to provide abortions to stabilize a patient in critical condition. The Supreme Court ultimately dismissed the case without a definitive ruling, reverting it to lower courts, where legal battles are ongoing.
Gov. Brad Little, a Republican, and the Idaho GOP Chairwoman, Dorothy Moon, have called Proposition 1 “too extreme for Idaho,” saying it will preempt parental consent laws and other laws establishing safety protocols for abortion.
“I am voting no on Proposition 1,” Little said in a press release earlier this month. “It would allow girls under 18 to receive abortion without parental consent, and it would make abortion far more accessible in Idaho. Proposition 1 simply goes too far.”
IMAGE DISTRIBUTED FOR NATIONAL WOMEN’S LAW CENTER – The National Women’s Law Center and a coalition of reproductive health, rights, and justice groups hold an “abortion is healthcare” rally in front of the Supreme Court as justices hear oral arguments in the cases of Idaho v. United States and Moyle v. United States. The cases center on whether a federal law, known as the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act — or EMTALA — supersedes Idaho’s law banning most abortions on Wednesday, April 24th, 2024 in Washington. (Joy Asico-Smith/AP Images for National Women’s Law Center)
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The National Women’s Law Center and a coalition of reproductive health, rights, and justice groups hold an “abortion is healthcare” rally in front of the U.S. Supreme Court as justices hear oral arguments in the cases of Idaho v. United States and Moyle v. United States. (Joy Asico-Smith/AP Images for National Women’s Law Center)
Nevada
Nevada’s state constitution requires amendments passed by ballot initiative to be ratified by voters in two consecutive even-numbered election years.
In 2024, more than 64% of Nevada voters cast their ballots to enshrine in their constitution a right to abortion until fetal viability. The measure allows for the state to regulate abortion after viability except when medically indicated to “protect the life or health of the pregnant patient.”
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The ballot measure this year, which is the same as in 2024, would become part of the Nevada Constitution if it passes. It only needs a simple majority to pass.
Abortion is currently legal in Nevada through 24 weeks of pregnancy.
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[ H/T Washington Examiner ]
