Voters in several states face key abortion-related ballot initiatives

DRAPER, Utah (BP) – Voters in several states will decide whether to expand abortion rights as they go to the polls this election season. Ministry and policy leaders say voters should be well informed when they cast their ballots.

Idaho is among a handful of states where voters will face life-related ballot initiatives.

The Reproductive Freedom and Privacy Act is on the ballot in Idaho, a state that has banned abortion.

“This initiative is not about saving the lives of preborn babies, but instead it is a pro-abortion initiative that would make abortion a right in the state,” Rob Lee, executive director of the Utah Idaho Southern Baptist Convention, told Baptist Press.

One paragraph in the proposed amendment says, “After the point of fetal viability, it shall not be a violation of the right to reproductive freedom and privacy for the state to regulate abortion, except in cases of medical emergency.”

That language might sound as if the amendment gives the state more ability to restrict abortion; however, it is a move to expand abortion up to and beyond the point of fetal viability, which most physicians say is 24 weeks’ gestation.

Lee says he believes most Idahoans don’t want this in their state constitution.

“Idaho is known for being a pro-life state that protects the life of the baby before birth,” he said. “This would make abortion a right all the way up to the birth of a full-term baby that can live outside the womb.”

He said the amendment would be a drastic shift if it passes. 

“It would change the state from being pro-life to being against the life of the preborn, even if the baby could be born alive,” Lee said.

The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission has created a webpage to inform voters about the Idaho initiative.

They’re encouraging voters to act urgently.

“The amendment only needs 50% approval of voters to pass, so every vote against this measure counts in the effort to protect life,” the ERLC page says.

“Our prayer is that life would prevail at the ballot box in Idaho,” Ethics & Religious Liberty President Evan Lenow told Baptist Press.

“The ballot initiative resources we’ve created in partnership with the Utah-Idaho Southern Baptist Convention are designed to help inform Southern Baptists before they go to the polls and also supplement the work that pastors are already doing to teach people what God’s Word says about the sanctity of human life,” he said.

According to KFF Health, abortion related ballot initiatives are also being considered in Virginia, Nevada, and Missouri.

“This year, Virginia, Idaho, and Nevada could dramatically expand abortion access by passing these radical and harmful constitutional amendments,” said the ERLC’s Zack Pruitt.

In Missouri, the ballot initiative would overturn a previously adopted amendment granting abortion access.

Pruitt, ERLC’s vice president of public policy and general counsel, said the initiative is an “opportunity to self-correct after dramatically expanding abortion access in a narrow 2024 vote.”

The 2024 amendment in Missouri has been an ongoing battle not only involving voters, but also the state legislature, the courts, and Planned Parenthood.

“Frankly, what we have now is a wide-open killing field for the unborn,” wrote the Missouri Baptist Convention’s Wes Fowler in a recent article in The Pathway.

“It’s absolutely tragic. Future generations will be appalled by our lack of regard for the most vulnerable among us,” said Fowler, executive director of the MBC.

In 2022, Missouri voters passed an amendment banning abortion. In 2024, they reversed that decision by passing an amendment to legalize abortion.

This November, voters will once again have the ability to restrict abortion access.

“Amendment 3 significantly restricts abortions in Missouri, which is a step in the right direction – a step that saves lives,” Fowler wrote.

“The unborn, made in the very image of God, are worthy of our attention – our voice, our advocacy – and certainly our vote. The unborn are worthy of the same protections you and I enjoy – they are worthy of life!”

___

This article appeared in Baptist Press.