TALLAHASSEE – Voters in seven states approved measures to protect abortion access on Tuesday, largely continuing the trend seen since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade two years ago.

Florida was not one of them.

Despite gaining the majority of voter support, Amendment 4 did not meet the 60% approval requirement required by Florida. It joined Nebraska and South Dakota in not passing abortion protections this year. Voters in Maryland, Missouri, Arizona, Colorado, New York, Montana and Nevada approved his abortion-related measures.

Still, Florida’s amendment carried Vice President Kamala Harris in nearly every county in the state. And it had a higher percentage of voters than the approval rate for the Missouri abortion amendment, which passed.

“The majority of Floridians in what is the most conservative presidential election in Florida history just voted to end Florida’s abortion ban,” Amendment 4 campaign manager Lauren Brenzel said Tuesday. at the group’s election night watch party.

About 57% of voters in Florida said they wanted Amendment 4, which proposed protecting abortion until viability or when necessary to protect the health of the patient.

But Florida since 2006 has required 60% support to amend the constitution. (By the way, Florida voters approved that change, which was proposed by the Legislature, through a constitutional amendment that passed with less than 60% support.)

That requirement is higher than almost any other state, including states that passed abortion protection amendments this year.

Florida’s high bar for adopting amendments is one of many ways Florida lawmakers have made the citizen initiative process more difficult in recent years.

The DeSantis administration seems willing to recommend more changes that could again make the process more difficult to navigate. And it’s possible that some lawmakers could revive a proposal that passed the Florida House last year to increase the requirement for constitutional amendments to 66.7% approval.

Tuesday’s results indicated that some voters who supported the amendment also voted for former President Donald Trump. Trump has taken credit for ending Roe v. Wade for his role in selecting some of the Supreme Court justices who overturned precedent.

The amendment overtook Trump in some counties where he won. For example, in Pinellas County, which went to Trump, Amendment 4 performed about 12% better than the former president. In Hillsborough, it performed about 10% better.

Supporters of Amendment 4 have not said If they will try again in future years. Meanwhile, it’s unclear what abortion availability might look like under a Trump presidency.

Although Trump has refused to support a national abortion ban, abortion access advocates still fear his presidency will set reproductive health back.

Earlier this year, for example, Trump indicated that he would be willing to revoke access to mifepristone, one of the pills used in medical abortion. Especially as states restrict abortion access, clinics have leaned on medication abortion as a way to serve more patients. JD Vance, Trump’s vice president, retracted the former president’s comments, saying that Trump wants to leave abortion in the hands of the states.

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