Share This Article
Most abortion-rights ballot measures succeeded this year, but November marked the first time since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade that some citizen-led bids to restore access failed.
Organizers with campaigns in Arkansas, Florida, Nebraska and South Dakota spoke with States Newsroom about what went wrong. A few said they’re not giving up the fight, and one group hopes to get the question on the ballot in 2026.
In Arkansas, voters could have had a chance to decide whether to allow the right to an abortion up to 18 weeks post-fertilization, and beyond in cases of rape, incest, fatal fetal anomalies, or to protect a patient’s life or physical health.
But the question never made the ballot. The secretary of state disqualified around 14,000 of more than 100,000 signatures submitted by Arkansans for Limited Government, the group behind the proposed constitutional amendment, according to Arkansas Advocate. Measures require 90,704 signatures to make the ballot in the state.
The election official said the signatures were invalid due to a paperwork error, and the state Supreme Court agreed with his decision in August, the Advocate reported.
Gennie Diaz, Arkansans for Limited Government’s spokesperson, said the defeat was “devastating because we felt very much like the facts were on our side, the law was on our side and that we did everything that was required of us.”
All abortions are illegal in Arkansas except to save the life of the mother. Doctors violating the law could be fined up to $100,000 and serve up to 10 years in prison. No abortions were reported to the state Department of Health in 2023, the latest info available.
While canvassing, the group spent a lot of time informing Arkansans about the law — some residents didn’t know the ban was in effect — and telling them about medical emergencies that arise during pregnancies that require abortions, Diaz said. Family Council published a list of paid canvassers and their home cities in June, a move Arkansans for Limited Government denounced as an intimidation tactic.
Arkansans for Limited Government is looking to mount another abortion-rights initiative, she said, but the group will need financial support.
“One of the biggest takeaways from our experience is that you do need substantial funding, robust funding up front in order to make sure your ducks are in a row and you have a really solid plan,” Diaz said.
The abortion-rights committee raised $306,314 in July, the penultimate month of the campaign, Arkansas Advocate reported. Arkansas Family Council reported more than $238,000 at the end of July to oppose the abortion amendment, and Stronger Arkansas — a group with ties to Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders — had about $475,000 during that time period, according to the Advocate.
Diaz said national funding is crucial to a successful abortion-rights amendment: “I don’t think it necessarily has to come from Planned Parenthood and ACLU National. That’s typically who it has come from. But it is just the bare bones truth that in order for a ballot initiative to be successful, you have to have millions of dollars, even in a small state like Arkansas.”
Lack of money wasn’t an issue in Florida, where voters weighed whether to allow abortion before fetal viability and when a provider determines the procedure is medically necessary. The abortion-rights group behind Amendment 4 had more than $121 million in total contributions, according to state campaign finance data.
Several opposition committees popped up ahead of the election, including Do No Harm, Florida Voters Against Extremism — publicly known as “No on 4” — Keep Florida Pro Life and Life First PC. Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis created the Florida Freedom Fund to oppose abortion and marijuana initiatives. DeSantis’ PAC had $7.3 million in contributions, according to state campaign finance data.
What set the counter-campaign apart in Florida was the DeSantis administration’s tactics in opposing the effort. It’s unclear how much the state government spent to oppose the abortion-rights ballot measure, but the governor ramped up critiques — even against members of his own party — as the election approached. A health agency created a government webpage warning against Amendment 4, DeSantis appeared alongside anti-abortion physicians, and he got a former NFL coach to speak out against the proposal, the Florida Phoenix reported.
“There were misconceptions and flat out lies about what Amendment Four was and what Amendment Four was not,” said Keisha Mulfort, spokesperson for the state’s American Civil Liberties Union affiliate who worked on Floridians Protecting Freedom’s campaign.
In October, state health officials sent cease-and-desist letters to TV broadcasters threatening to sue them over a Yes on 4 ad featuring a cancer survivor, the Phoenix reported. The group sued the administration, saying officials were trying to chill free speech. U.S. District Judge Mark Walker agreed, saying the Florida Department of Health could not intimidate broadcasters. Litigation in the case is ongoing.
The abortion-rights group is also disputing a $328,000 fine stemming from a Florida Office of Election Crimes & Security preliminary report released in October accusing Floridians Protecting Freedom of “widespread election fraud.” Campaign Director Lauren Brenzel refuted the allegations, and Mulfort said the fine is also being litigated but can’t comment further on either case.
Fifty-seven percent of Florida voters approved the abortion-rights measure, but Amendment 4 fell short of the 60% threshold required in the state, according to the Phoenix. Although a majority of Floridians voted in favor of abortion rights, the supermajority requirement means most abortions are banned after six weeks.
“We all will continue to look at the ways in which we can ensure that reproductive freedom is seen in Florida and that these abortion bans come to an end,” Mulfort said.
Like Arkansas, South Dakota’s abortion-rights group did not receive any funding from the national branches of Planned Parenthood or the American Civil Liberties Union. Democratic Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker’s Think Big America PAC donated $790,000 in the final weeks leading up to Election Day.
Dakotans for Health was outraised by three anti-abortion committees — Life Defense Fund, No G for SD and Celebrate Life Committee — that raised $1.7 million, versus the abortion-rights coalition’s $840,000 as of late October, South Dakota Searchlight reported.
Amendment G asked voters whether the state should ban legislators from regulating abortion until the end of the first trimester, allow regulations during the second trimester “in ways that are reasonably related to the physical health of the pregnant woman” and let the state prohibit abortion in the third trimester, unless the procedure is necessary to save the life or health of a pregnant patient.
Fifty-nine percent of South Dakota voters rejected the proposal, and 41% voted yes.
Dakotans for Health leader Rick Weiland chalked the loss up to a lack of resources.
“We were in a tough spot. We knew that we needed to be on the air at the end. The last month or so, that’s what we had budgeted for,” he said. “But the other side of that coin, too — the reason we didn’t have the resources — was that the national organizations had written South Dakota off, which was really unfortunate.”
Weiland said he would not lead another effort to restore abortion rights in the state but would support other groups. South Dakota’s ACLU and Planned Parenthood affiliates did not support the campaign and questioned its timing and wording at the start, according to Searchlight.
“There’s no middle ground in politics anymore,” Weiland said. “You have to be beholden to the ultra-right or beholden to the ultra-left, and you can’t do what we thought was the right thing, which was just restore the rights that women had for almost 50 years.”
He also challenged the Republican-controlled legislature to add exemptions to the state’s abortion ban, which only allows abortions to save the mother’s life.
“They could declare a state of emergency, they could pass an exemption bill for rape, incest and nonviable pregnancies, the governor could sign it, and women would have at least some access.”
He said such a mechanism could be passed swiftly, similar to the way lawmakers fast-tracked a bill this year that allowed citizens to remove their signatures from ballot petitions. Republican Rep. Jon Hansen authored that bill. He also served as co-chair of the anti-abortion Life Defense Fund and is the incoming speaker of the South Dakota House.
In Nebraska, voters faced an unprecedented pair of ballot questions on abortion. One initiative asked voters whether to restore the right to an abortion up to fetal viability. The other asked voters whether to restrict access after the first trimester and allow lawmakers to further regulate abortion. Most abortions are banned after 12 weeks in the state.
Even though the abortion-rights group had the jump on organizing — launching in 2023, while the counter effort started up only this spring — the restrictive measure prevailed.
“The abortion restrictions amendment … left the door open for further bans and restrictions,” said Andi Curry Grubb, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Nebraska’s executive director. “ We’ve dusted ourselves off, regrouped and are prepared for what comes next. We will not rest in our fight to protect every person’s right to control their life, body, and future.”
