TALLAHASSEE — Voters in seven states passed measures Tuesday to protect access to abortion; This follows the U.S. Supreme Court decision two years ago in Roe v. It has largely continued the trend seen since Wade overturned his case.

Florida was not one of them.

Despite receiving a majority of voter support, Amendment 4 Did not meet Florida’s 60% threshold for passage. It joins Nebraska and South Dakota in failing to pass abortion protections this year. Voters in Maryland, Missouri, Arizona, Colorado, New York, Montana and Nevada passed abortion-related measures.

Still, Florida’s amendment outpaced Vice President Kamala Harris in nearly every county in the state. And it had a higher percentage of voters than approved of Missouri’s abortion amendment.

“In the most conservative presidential election in Florida history, a majority of Floridians voted to repeal 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 want Amendment 4, which proposes protecting abortion until viability or when necessary to preserve the patient’s health.

But Florida has needed 60 percent support for a constitutional amendment since 2006. (Florida voters, meanwhile, approved this change proposed by the Legislature through a constitutional amendment that passed with less than 60% support.)

That requirement is higher than nearly all states, including states that passed abortion protection amendments this year.

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

DeSantis’ administration seems ready to propose further changes This can make it difficult for the process to progress. And it’s possible some lawmakers could revive a proposal that passed the Florida Legislature last year that would raise the constitutional amendment requirement to 66.7%.

Tuesday’s results showed that some voters who supported the amendment also voted for former President Donald Trump. Trump cited Roe v. for his role in selecting some Supreme Court justices who overturned precedent. He praised the conclusion of the Wade case.

The amendment outperformed Trump in some counties he won. For example, in Pinellas County, Amendment 4, which went to Trump, outperformed the former president by about 12%. He performed about 10% better at Hillsborough.

Supporters of Amendment 4 did not say: If they were to try again in future years. Meanwhile, it’s unclear what abortion availability will look like during Trump’s presidency.

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

For example, earlier this year, Trump stated that he would be open to canceling access to mifepristone, one of the pills used in medical abortions. Especially as states restrict abortion access, clinics have turned to medication abortions as a way to see more patients. Trump’s vice president, JD Vance, pushed back on the former president’s comments: He says Trump wants to leave abortion to the states.

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