While voters in Florida, Nebraska and South Dakota defeated efforts to loosen abortion restrictions in their states, seven other states passed measures to allow abortions later in pregnancy and with fewer safeguards.

“Voters in Florida, Nebraska, and South Dakota saw through the money and lies of abortion industry-backed efforts to radically change their state constitutions,” stated Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life. “Leaders such as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Nebraska U.S. Senator Pete Ricketts boldly led the fight for life and never backed down. We thank our state affiliates Florida Right to Life, Nebraska Right to Life, South Dakota Right to Life, and our other affiliates fighting these measures, for their heroic efforts.”

South Dakota remains one of a dozen states in the country that protects nearly all unborn children throughout all stages of pregnancy after voters defeated by a landslide the pro-abortion Amendment G. With two thirds of the vote counted in the reliably red state, “no” was leading with 61% of the voters, to just 39% for “yes.” 

And Nebraska not only rejected the pro-abortion initiative on its ballot, it also simultaneously approved a measure to protect unborn children after the first trimester—commonly defined as 13 weeks of pregnancy. Nebraska Initiative 439, or the “Right to Abortion,” narrowly failed with 51.1% of the voters opposing it. The state’s Initiative 434, or “Prohibit Abortion Past First Trimester,” passed by a 55% to 45% margin.

Meanwhile, seven of the 10 states with abortion initiatives on the ballot passed amendments loosening existing abortion restrictions.

Pro-abortion amendments passed in Arizona (62%), Colorado (61%) Maryland (74%), Missouri (52%), Montana (57%), Nevada (55%), and New York (62%). The Nevada amendment will have to pass again in 2026 to take effect.

“Kamala Harris, Tim Walz, and the Democratic Party have taken the most extreme abortion position possible, including support for unlimited abortions throughout pregnancy,” Tobias continued. “Kamala Harris and Tim Walz support abortion anytime, anywhere, and under any circumstances. Supported by the abortion industry and its allies, Harris and Walz campaigned with fanatical fervor on abortion—and the voters rejected them.”

Since the 2022 Dobbs case in which the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, abortion advocates have rallied at the state level to remove as many restrictions as possible. Prior to Tuesday’s election, seven states had passed ballot measures related to abortion, with pro-life measures losing every time.

“As we process the abortion ballot initiatives from across the country, it is obvious that there is a critical need, not only in policy but at a more basic level, in individual hearts and consciences, for a better understanding of the humanity of preborn children,” said Brent Leatherwood, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention. 

“Voters in Florida, South Dakota and Nebraska rejected pro-abortion measures, showing there is a path forward for the cause of life.

“That said, the reality is, the majority of states with such initiatives chose a deadlier path,” Leatherwood continued. “Preborn children are in danger, and we will work with our churches and partners to oppose and combat this urgent cultural crisis.”

Florida currently bans abortion after six weeks of pregnancy, a restriction that took effect earlier this year. Amendment 4, known as the “Right to Abortion Initiative,” would have allowed for abortions up to viability, or around 24 weeks. However, pro-life advocates argued that the initiative’s vague language would have made abortion accessible at any stage of pregnancy. It needed 60% of the vote to pass and received 57%.

The Florida governor and his wife, Casey, lobbied vigorously on behalf of pro-life groups to defeat the abortion expansion.

In Missouri, voters passed Amendment 3, which establishes a woman’s “fundamental right” to abortion up to fetal viability with 52% of the vote. Pro-life advocates said the ambiguously worded amendment overturns 52 pro-life laws on the books, including parental consent and notification, and makes Missouri one of the most pro-abortion states in the nation.

“It injects an intentionally broad, elastic term into the constitution—reproductive freedom—that covers abortion but will also inevitably be extended by lawyers and judges to include everything related to reproductive organs,” including gender transitioning drugs or surgery, human cloning research and all future reproductive technologies, according to Michael Whitehead, a trial attorney in Kansas City, Missouri, and outside general counsel for the Missouri Baptist Convention.

Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser said the organization’s pro-life advocacy made a tremendous difference evidenced by the American voters’ resounding rejection of Kamala Harris’ abortion extremist platform.

“SBA Pro-Life America’s paramount goal for this cycle was to deny Democrats the chance to pass a national all-trimester abortion mandate and wipe out protections for babies and women in all 50 states,” Dannenfelser said. “While the abortion lobby flooded airwaves with misinformation, our team hit the ground—making four million visits to persuadable and low-turnout voters in eight battleground states and reaching 10 million voters overall to expose the Democrats’ extremism. Time after time, these crucial conversations change minds and change votes that make the difference in close elections. We succeeded.

“Now the work begins to dismantle the pro-abortion policies of the Biden-Harris administration. President Trump’s first-term pro-life accomplishments are the baseline for his second term. In the long term, GOP pro-life resolve must be strengthened and centered on the unalienable right to life for unborn children that exists under the 14th Amendment. In America, where you live should never determine whether you live. Across the nation there are still hundreds of thousands of babies to save and moms to serve, and we can’t stop fighting for them now.”

Decision Magazine, founded by Billy Graham in 1960, works through its website and monthly magazine to communicate the Gospel, as well as inform and challenge readers about key cultural and Biblical issues.

HD Editor’s Note: Why Is This News Biblically Relevant?

Pastor Greg Laurie of Harvest Riverside in California explained earlier this year why being Pro-Life and active in the fight against abortion is the “only Biblical position.”

“The topic of abortion is very personal to me—not just because I am a pastor, but because I myself was not planned. I was conceived as a result of a one-night stand, and could have become another abortion statistic. Thankfully, that did not happen,” he detailed. “Each child is created by God and is granted the gift of life at conception. I am grateful my mother brought me to term. And I believe, unequivocally, that each and every child should be given the chance to live.”

“Since the passing of Roe v. Wade in the early 1970s, an estimated 63 million+ babies have been aborted,” Laurie lamented. “The abortion industry creates revenue in excess of $4 billion in the United States alone. Despite the fact that Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022, many states have continued this practice, under the banner of ‘woman’s rights.’ The truth is that abortion takes the life of an innocent child in the womb. It is, plainly speaking, murder.”

“I think one of the reasons abortion has persisted is because we are so desensitized to murder,” he underscored. “Our culture today is awash in violence. Everywhere we look, we see it: on our television screens, in theaters, in music, and in video games. But it’s sin. It’s the Sixth Commandment: ‘You shall not murder’ (Exodus 20:13). Translated from the original Hebrew, the word ‘murder’ means ‘to dash in pieces.’ It’s the intentional and forcible taking of another’s life. Through abortion, millions of children are being chemically burned, cut to pieces, suctioned, starved, crushed, poisoned, or impaled in the womb.”

“Our culture tries to dehumanize these babies with rewordings and euphemisms. They call murder ‘terminating a pregnancy’ and they label unborn babies as ‘fetuses,’ ’embryos,’ ‘globs of cells,’ ‘uterine contents,’ or ‘products of conception.’ But the reality is that they are innocent children, made in the image of God, and they have every right to live.”

“If you don’t agree with that then, frankly, you disagree with the Bible,” Laurie asserted, adding that the church has a responsibility to be “active in the battle against abortion.”