LIVE BLOG: 10 states deciding abortion proposals

Editor's note: This live blog will be updated as results roll in election night. 

Voters in 10 states this election cycle considered ballot items aimed at removing or restricting protections for unborn babies. Opponents said the measures also challenged parental rights and, in some cases, could allow minors to access so-called transgender surgeries without parental involvement. Residents are voting on whether to expand abortion access, limit protections for unborn babies, and enshrine abortion into their state’s constitution.

What are the details of these ballot items?

• Ballot issues in Florida, Arizona, and Montana would establish a right to abortion until a baby could survive outside the womb, followed by broad health exceptions for the woman’s health. While most state constitutional amendments require a simple majority, Florida needs 60% of the vote.

• The Nevada Reproductive Rights Amendment is much similar to pro-abortion proposals in other states. Nevada voters need to approve an amendment in two separate elections for it to take effect.

• In Maryland and Missouri, ballot items would guarantee a right to so-called reproductive freedom, a general term that pro-lifers say could include transgender surgery. Missouri’s proposal, for instance, would prohibit laws that would restrict or regulate abortion before the unborn baby reaches viability—or after viability, for broad health reasons including the mental health of the woman.

• In Colorado, Proposed Initiative 89 would remove the state’s current prohibition on using tax dollars to pay for the procedure. The measure would establish a right to abortion without a viability limit. The ballot item needs 55% of the vote in order to be enacted.

• In New York, the Equal Rights Amendment would add so-called gender identity and “pregnancy outcomes” as protected categories in the state’s constitution.

• South Dakota’s Constitutional Amendment G would allow women to obtain abortions during the first trimester and would protect babies in the second and third trimester as long as it is “reasonably related to the physical health of the pregnant woman.” The amendment would still allow abortions in the third trimester if the mother’s life or health is at risk.

• Competing initiatives in Nebraska would protect most babies from abortion after the first trimester or allow abortion up to the point of viability and afterward for broad health reasons.

Dig deeper: Read Erin Hawley’s opinion piece about the importance of Christians voting to protect life during this election.