Missouri Would Repeal a 2024 Abortion Protection While Three Other States Vote to Add Rights

Voters in Missouri, Idaho, Nevada and Virginia will decide abortion-related ballot measures on Tuesday, 3 November 2026. Ballotpedia counts Idaho’s initiative as the fourth such measure on the 2026 ballots, and the four would work in different ways: Missouri’s would repeal a 2024 protection, while the other three would provide for a state right to abortion.

Idaho’s secretary of state announced on 13 July that the Reproductive Freedom and Privacy Act had enough valid signatures to qualify. As of 2 November, results were not yet available.

Missouri’s Amendment 3 Would Repeal the 2024 Abortion-Rights Protections

Amendment 3 is the Legislature’s resolution HJR 73. It would repeal the 2024 voter-approved amendment that protects reproductive health care, including abortion up to fetal viability. KOMU reports that it would near-totally ban abortion, with exceptions for medical emergencies, fetal anomalies, and rape or incest. The rape and incest exceptions would be limited to the first 12 weeks.

The measure would also require parental consent for minors’ abortions and prohibit gender transition procedures for minors.

The ballot wording was litigated. In a ruling KOMU reported on 4 December 2025, the Missouri Court of Appeals for the Western District rewrote the language again, finding that the earlier version did not adequately tell voters the measure would repeal the 2024 amendment. Judge Janet Sutton wrote the majority opinion. The court held that the three-rewrite rule applies only in circuit court, so its judgment is final, despite a request from Secretary of State Denny Hoskins to keep the case open.

KOMU reports that Attorney General Catherine Hanaway disagreed with the rewrite but called the court’s upholding of HJR 73 a victory.

Missouri Ballot Language Ruling
In a ruling KOMU reported on 4 December 2025, the Missouri Court of Appeals for the Western District rewrote the Amendment 3 ballot language.

Virginia and Nevada Would Write Abortion Protections Into Their Constitutions

Virginia’s amendment would establish a “fundamental right to reproductive freedom” in the state Bill of Rights. According to WHRO, it would cover abortion, contraception, fertility treatment, prenatal and postpartum care, childbirth and miscarriage management. Abortion protections now sit in state statute, which future governors and lawmakers could change more easily.

WHRO reports that the amendment would not expand access beyond current law. Abortion would remain legal through the second trimester, and third-trimester abortions would stay banned except when a physician finds the patient’s life or physical or mental health at risk, or the fetus is not viable. It does not address insurance coverage or public funding, meaning it would not change Medicaid or Medicare payment. If approved, it takes effect 1 January 2027.

Geri Greenspan, senior staff attorney at the ACLU of Virginia, said the amendment’s main effect is to protect freedoms Virginians already have. Tarina Keene, executive director of REPRO Rising, said that without a right in the constitution or code, abortion access remains precarious.

Nevada’s Question 6 would amend the state constitution to protect abortion until fetal viability, generally about 23 to 24 weeks, or later when needed to protect the patient’s life or health. The Nevada Independent reports that state law already allows abortion through 24 weeks, so the amendment would largely codify existing protections. Its main effect would be making those protections harder to overturn.

A constitutional right would need majority votes in two consecutive elections. Because this is the first time voters weigh in on the question, it must also be approved in the 2026 election for the Constitution to be amended. Opponents, including Nevada Right to Life, say it would mislead voters by not disclosing that approving it would not change abortion rights in Nevada. The Legislature’s Fiscal Analysis Division said the financial impact cannot be determined with reasonable degree of certainty.

Idaho’s Initiative Would Create a Statutory Right With a Viability Limit

The Reproductive Freedom and Privacy Act would create a statutory right to reproductive freedom and privacy. Ballotpedia reports that after fetal viability, the state could regulate abortion, except in a medical emergency.

The Back to Idaho campaign says the measure would allow abortion up to viability and beyond in a medical emergency or a fatal fetal diagnosis, according to Ballotpedia. The Idaho Freedom Foundation opposes the measure and says it would allow abortions for minors without parental consent.

Its main effect would be making those protections harder to overturn.

What Each Outcome Would Change for Access, Employers and Work

For health access, the four measures set different rules. If Amendment 3 passes, the 2024 protection would be repealed and the restrictions described above would apply. The Virginia and Nevada measures would place existing protections in their constitutions, and Idaho’s would create a statutory right with the viability limit.

Virginia’s amendment, as WHRO describes it, leaves insurance coverage and public funding unchanged.

Results come after voting on 3 November. If Virginia’s amendment passes, it takes effect 1 January 2027. The Nevada Independent reports that Question 6 must pass in 2026 before it can amend the constitution.