But it doesn't say that in the Amendment...

3 min read

Since 2022, seven states have passed pro-abortion referendums or amendments. Nevadans would be wise to learn from their experience.

Often, pro-Question 6 advocates will say the language doesn’t say abortion is legal through all nine months or parental notification isn’t affected. It is important to read the language closely – both the actual amendment language and the question that will appear on the ballot – and consider that current laws related to abortion will likely fall to challenge if the amendment passes. All future laws must be written to support a fundamental right to abortion.

Consider the following states and the aftermath of their abortion amendment ratification:

Kansas

Due to a 2019 Kansas Supreme Court ruling and Kansas not approving the Value Them Both Amendment in 2022, the abortion industry has attacked previously passed abortion limits one by one. The following laws have been overturned:

  •  Policies stopping most live dismemberment abortions. (1)

  •  Clinic Licensing, Sanitation, and Safety Standards. (2)

The following laws have been blocked:

  • Informed Consent, 24 24-hour waiting Period, information about health risks, and disclosure about abortionists' medical malpractice. (3)

  • In-Person Doctor Requirement, Telemed/Pill Abortion Limits. (4)

  • Some Abortion reporting. (5)

Michigan

Passed in November 2022 by 57% of Michiganders, Proposal 3 went into effect in the Michigan Constitution (now listed as Section 1, Article 28 of the Constitution) on December 23, 2022, creating a new “fundamental right to reproductive freedom.” While pro-Proposal 3 spokespeople and candidates insisted it was simply to “Restore Roe” and did not threaten other safeguards around abortion, the passage of Proposal 3 was immediately used to repeal many pro-life laws, including the following:

  •  The 1931 abortion ban (including the penalties for killing a woman in an abortion)

  •  The clinic licensing law (health and safety standards)

    • The day after the law went into effect, the 1st never licensed clinic opened in Grand Rapids, and the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs sent letters to all the abortion clinics letting them know they would no longer be inspected.

  •  The abortion reporting law (including abortion complication reporting)

  •  The humane disposal of fetal remains law

  •  The partial-birth abortion law

  •  The ban on advertising how-to guides for producing abortion drugs

  •  The “Quick Child” law (which is the ban against late-term abortions)

  •  The abortion insurance opt-out law

  •  The penalty for teachers aiding or assisting a student in obtaining an abortion was repealed. School boards across the state are amending their rules to allow teachers to counsel children on abortion.

    • There are several other areas of concern that have not yet been flushed out, including changing the sex education curriculum at all public schools to include teaching about abortion.

  • In addition to striking the aforementioned laws, the so-called Reproductive Health Act (RHA) was passed in the fall of 2023, which codifies into state law the language of Proposal 3, creating a double layer of “protection” for abortion against possible overturning of the state constitutional amendment.

Court Action is currently underway to attack the following laws:

  • One of the pro-life laws that was targeted for repeal in the RHA but NOT struck was the informed consent for abortions law (including the 24-hour waiting period); however, the abortion provider Northland Family Planning filed a lawsuit seeking to invalidate that law under proposal 3.

    • On June 25, 2024, the Court of Claims, under a Governor Whitmer-appointed judge, placed a preliminary injunction on enforcement of the informed consent law, which includes the mandated information on the state’s website, the 24-hour waiting period, and the doctor-only provision for abortion opening the door for non-physicians to perform abortions. (This means informed consent and the 24-hour waiting period are no longer enforceable, and non-physicians can now perform abortions.)

    • The provision to screen women for signs of coercion to abort and the required signage and domestic violence materials provided in abortion clinics was NOT enjoined.

  • The Medicaid funding abortion ban was also originally targeted for repeal under the sweeping RHA, but the pro-abortion legislature could not convince all of their members to vote to repeal the law.

    • On June 27, 2024, the ACLU, on behalf of the YWCA of Kalamazoo, filed a lawsuit to force taxpayers to pay for other people’s abortions through Medicaid - challenging the constitutionality of the ban on Medicaid-funded abortion as well as the reimbursement rates set for abortion arguing that the rate should be increased as a matter of “non-discrimination” under Proposal 3.

Note: The ACLU in Michigan formally came out against Informed Consent after the referendum was approved. Michigan's Parental Consent Law for Abortion Harms Young People | ACLU of Michigan (aclumich.org)

Ohio

The abortion Industry passed a ballot initiative in 2023. No law has yet been formally repealed, but the following laws have been challenged:

  • Heartbeat Protections

  • 24-Hour Waiting Period

  • Prohibition on Telemed/Pill Abortions

  • Advanced Practice Clinicians' ability to provide medication abortion (physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and certified nurse midwives)

(1) Kansas Supreme Court throws out abortion clinic regulations - UPI.com

(2) Kansas Supreme Court strikes down abortion restrictions, clinic rules in major decisions (msn.com)

(3) Kansas judge blocks new abortion pill reversal law and old clinic regulations statutes (msn.com)

(4) Judge blocks Kansas law that banned prescribing abortion pills over telemedicine | KCUR - Kansas City news and NPR

(5) Kansas won't force providers to ask patients why they want abortions while a lawsuit proceeds | AP News