WASHINGTON — In a stunning display of broad support for at least some abortion rights, voters in a handful of key states voted to defend abortion rights in the first major test of public sentiment after the Dobbs decision.
Voters in Kentucky shot down a proposal that would have explicitly denied abortion as a right in its constitution, though the procedure still remains all but banned in the state. In a closely watched fight in Michigan, voters passed a measure that would protect abortion access in the state constitution. Voters in California and Vermont also voted to codify abortion as a constitutional right, while in Montana, voters rejected a measure requiring care for fetus born alive after an abortion attempt.
The Michigan measure was the first such vote since the Dobbs decision in a swing state with sizable populations of both Democrats and Republicans. Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was locked in a tight race with GOP opponent Tudor Dixon, who is anti-abortion and has skirted the issue on the campaign trail, but Whitmer was elected to a second term.
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