Dear Friends,

The greatest moral divide in our nation right now in the aftermath of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbsdecision is the issue of abortion. We must be informed about what is at stake regarding abortion in the midterm elections tomorrow and what the consequences of the outcome might be.

THE FEDERAL LEVEL

Every U.S. Congressional House of Representatives and Senate seat matters enormously in this midterm election as to whether this nation’s federal laws will preserve and protect the lives of the unborn. President Biden has made it unequivocally clear that codifying Roe and going radically well beyond to allow abortion up until birth will be his top legislative priority if Democrats keep control of the House and expand their seats in the Senate. (See National Review article HERE)

THE STATE LEVEL & FIVE KEY STATES 

Every State Congressional and Governor’s election matters immensely. Voters in five states will be voting directly on the issue of abortion. Three states — California, Vermont and Michigan — are proposing constitutional amendments to advance abortion. Kentucky and Montana are voting on pro-life measures.

Abortion advocates are hoping to repeat their historic win in August in conservative Kansas where voters resoundingly rejected an anti-abortion initiative — Value Them Both — that would have removed the state’s constitutional right to abortion. (See Council for Life News HERE)

CALIFORNIA: PROPOSITION 1

The nation’s most populated and so-called “Golden State” is also one of our country’s most liberal states especially when it comes to abortion. Over the last year alone, California Governor Gavin Newsom has signed thirteen pro-abortion laws. California currently allows abortion for any reason before viability, when a baby can survive outside the womb— generally considered to begin around 24 weeks of pregnancy. After viability, California allows abortion when a woman’s life or health is threatened.

Proposition 1 would amend California’s constitution to explicitly protect abortion. Its text reads: “The state shall not deny or interfere with an individual’s reproductive freedom in their most intimate decisions, which includes their fundamental right to choose to have an abortion…”

Polls find that a majority appear to support the measure. In August, a Berkeley IGS Poll found that 71% of California voters would back the referendum.

But even if the initiative is rejected by voters, abortion will remain legal in California. The state’s highest court has recognized the right to an abortion under the state constitution since 1969, and abortion is protected under state law.

VERMONT: ARTICLE 22

Abortion is legal up until birth in Vermont.

Citizens will vote tomorrow on arguably the most pro-abortion language to ever have been adopted by a state or United States Federal Government. The constitutional amendment Article 22, also known as Proposal 5, which promotes abortion reads: “That an individual’s right to personal reproductive autonomy is central to the liberty and dignity to determine one’s own life course and shall not be denied or infringed unless justified by a compelling State interest achieved by the least restrictive means.”

Noteworthy is that there is no limitation on this “personal reproductive autonomy” which could preclude any restriction on abortion such as parental notification laws.

MICHIGAN: PROPOSAL 22-3

Michigan is largely a pro-abortion state and their law currently provides that women can obtain abortions for any reason before viability. After viability, abortion is permitted to save the woman’s life.

Michigan’s proposed constitutional amendment, Proposal 22-3, promises to advance abortion in that stateand centers around whether a 1931 abortion ban, currently blocked, can be enforced. On the ballot, the amendment is identified as a “proposal to amend the state constitution to establish a new individual right to reproductive freedom, including a right to make all decisions about pregnancy and abortion; allow the state to regulate abortion in some cases; and forbid prosecution of individuals exercising established right.”

Polling in Michigan finds a majority support this extreme radical pro-abortion measure proposed to be ensconced within the states constitution.

KENTUCKY: CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT 2—
A VOTE FOR LIFE

Contrary to California, Vermont and Michigan, voters in the state of Kentucky do NOT have the opportunity to enshrine in their Constitution a new right to a “woman’s reproductive freedom” or a “pregnant person’s reproductive freedom.” Rather, voters will decide tomorrow whether to amend the state constitution to declare it does NOT protect the right to an abortion and to prohibit state funding for abortion.

Constitutional Amendment 2 asks voters whether they favor changing the Kentucky Constitution to create a new section that states that “to protect human life, nothing in this Constitution shall be construed to secure or protect a right to abortion or require the funding of abortion.”

Abortion is already banned in Kentucky through a “trigger law” that came into effect immediately after Roefell. But with legal challenges seeking to overturn the ban, pro-life advocates want to reinforce protection of the unborn with this Amendment 2.

MONTANA: BORN ALIVE INFANT PROTECTION ACT

Montana voters will weigh in on a legislative referendum adopting the Born-Alive Infant Protection Act, which declares infants born alive, including after an abortion, are legal persons. The bill also imposes criminal penalties on health care providers that do not take “medically appropriate and reasonable actions” to preserve the lives of these infants.

The measure states a born-alive infant is one “who breathes, has a beating heart, or has definite movement of voluntary muscles, after the complete expulsion or extraction from the mother.” The proposal also establishes that a “born-alive infant is entitled to medically appropriate care and treatment.”

Montana law allows abortions to be performed up to fetal viability. The state legislature enacted numerous abortion limits in 2021, including a 20-week abortion ban, restrictions on medication abortion, and an ultrasound requirement. But legal challenges have temporarily blocked the three restrictions while proceedings continue.

WE MUST VOTE, WE MUST PRAY

Council for Life is not political, but we know that precious innocent life hangs in the balance tomorrow. Please show up and vote to support and defend unborn human life. Please pray for the outcome of the midterm elections for the above five states and for elections throughout our beloved country that the sanctity of life would be honored.

Council for Life