The results of Tuesday's elections brought some good news for supporters of abortion rights, as Democrats won key races that will stave off new abortion bans from being enacted in at least three battleground states.
The US Supreme Court is in Washington, D.C.
Josh Shapiro ensured that any new abortion restrictions that the state's Republican-controlled legislatures pass will be vetoed and abortion will remain legal after he was elected governor.
The state passed a ballot measure enshrining abortion rights in the state constitution, which will prevent the state from banning abortion in the future.
It remains to be seen if Tony Evers will veto any abortion restrictions the legislature passes or if they will get a veto-proof majority.
California and Vermont have passed abortion ballot measures that protect reproductive rights through constitutional amendments, though other ballot measures in Kentucky and Montana are not out of the woods.
Roy Cooper will be able to veto any abortion bans they pass and keep the procedure legal in the state despite the fact that the Republicans failed to get a supermajority in the legislature.
Republican incumbent governors held on to their seats in Florida and Georgia, which means those states' GOP-controlled legislatures could still move forward with stricter abortion bans.
For everyone who said abortion was a losing issue, for everyone who said abortion is controversial, and for everyone who said abortion is not a big deal, the YES votes prove it. The majority of voters are pro-choice.
There will be things happening in Congress. It is too early to say which party will gain control of the House or Senate, but current forecasts suggest the House is likely to go to the GOP. It is likely that neither party will be able to do much on abortion, since President Joe Biden promised to make enshrining abortion rights in federal law a priority if Democrats retained control of Congress.
Since the Supreme Court legalized abortion in June, there has been a wave of state-level abortion bans that have angered abortion rights advocates. With abortion now largely banned in more than a dozen states and bans blocked in court in some others, advocates have been fearing which states will be the next to impose restrictions. While voter enthusiasm was high in the wake of the Supreme Court's decision, it was not clear how the election would affect abortion. The red wave of GOP victories that was predicted prior to Tuesday night did not come to fruition, though the party still appears poised to make inroads at both the state and federal levels.
Here is how abortion ballot measures fared in the midterms.
There is a place where abortion rights are on the ballot.
Tracking results where abortion access is at stake.
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