Voters in several states will likely see abortion-related constitutional amendments on the ballot for the 2026 midterm elections.
Missouri and Nevada have already certified ballot measures for 2026 that would loosen restrictions. Abortion-rights advocates in Virginia, Idaho, and Oregon are also working toward having initiatives on the ballot.
Montana voters will also consider a constitutional amendment to establish that personhood rights are protected from the moment of conception or fertilization.
State-level constitutional amendments for or against abortion have been a central feature of all election cycles since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade‘s federal protections for abortion until fetal viability.
In the 2022 and 2023 election cycles, voters overwhelmingly supported the abortion-rights side in several states.
However, in 2024, anti-abortion advocates in three states, Nebraska, Florida, and North Dakota, were able to secure victories by either restricting abortion to a certain gestational age or thwarting an abortion-rights amendment.
Kelsey Pritchard, communications director for Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, told the Washington Examiner that the secret to success for the anti-abortion side is “GOP leaders standing up and fighting alongside pro-life advocates.”
Pritchard also said SBA, the largest anti-abortion political group, “is engaging with our allies on the ground to put together the ingredients for success.”
Here are the states to watch in 2026.
Missouri
Missourians in 2024 voted by a slim majority to establish abortion up to fetal viability as a fundamental right in the state constitution. However, in 2026, they will have the opportunity to reverse that decision with another amendment vote to restrict abortion.
The new ballot initiative, Amendment 3, would prohibit abortion after 12 weeks of pregnancy, with exceptions for rape or incest, fatal fetal anomaly, or medical emergencies.
Amendment 3 would also prohibit gender transition medical treatments for minors, including puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries. Gender transition treatments are already statutorily prohibited for minors in Missouri, but an amendment would ensure further protection.
A simple majority in both chambers of the state legislature in 2025 voted to put the measure on the ballot in 2026.
Nevada
The abortion rights constitutional amendment on Nevada’s ballot in 2026 is the same as the one that passed by two-thirds of voters in the 2024 election cycle.
Nevada’s constitutional amendment process requires voters to approve an amendment in two consecutive even-numbered election years. The amendment is likely to attract a similar level of support and, if it passes, will be fully ratified into the state constitution.
Since a voter referendum in 1990, abortion has been legal in Nevada through 24 weeks of pregnancy, or about the start of the third trimester. Ratifying the amendment would change the standard to a medical professional’s determination of fetal viability, or the point at which the fetus is likely to survive outside of the mother’s uterus without extraordinary intervention.
Idaho
As of November 2025, the abortion-rights group Idahoans United for Women and Families had collected more than 50,000 signatures to get its initiative on the ballot in 2026, nearing the 71,000-signature threshold.
Idaho’s anti-abortion law is one of the strictest in the country, prohibiting abortion at all 40 weeks of pregnancy, and took effect immediately after Roe was struck down.
The ballot measure, titled the Reproductive Freedom and Privacy Act, would establish “a right to make private reproductive healthcare decisions, including abortion up to fetal viability and in medical emergencies.”
Enumerated in the measure’s definition of the term “reproductive healthcare” are any childbirth care, contraception, fertility treatment, and miscarriage care, as well as prenatal, pregnancy, and postpartum care.
Montana
Montanans voted in 2024 to protect abortion rights until fetal viability in their state constitution. However, in 2026, Montana voters will have the chance to reverse that decision and grant personhood status to all unborn children from the moment of fertilization.
Republican state Rep. Lee Deming said in March 2025 that he introduced the amendment because he thought some voters may have “buyer’s remorse” and did not understand what they were voting for in 2024.
The amendment defines the word “person” as applicable to “all members of mankind at any stage of development, beginning at the stage of fertilization or conception, regardless of age, health, level of functioning, or condition of dependency.”
The personhood amendment is unlikely to appear on the ballot, as it would require a two-thirds majority in both legislative chambers to approve it.
In 2024, nearly 58% of Montana voters supported protecting abortion through viability, at roughly 22 weeks of pregnancy.
Oregon
Oregonians could have a measure on the ballot in 2026 that would enshrine the right to abortion, same-sex marriage, and gender transition medicine into their state constitution.
Several advocacy groups have united on this wide-reaching amendment, which would prohibit discrimination based on pregnancy outcome, “gender identity and related health decisions,” sexual orientation, and biological sex.
The provision is mainly directed at reversing the state’s 2004 ban on same-sex marriage. Although same-sex marriage was recognized as legitimate by the Supreme Court in 2015, advocates argue that having a constitutional amendment protecting the institution is necessary.
Supporters need to gather 160,551 valid signatures by July to secure the measure for the November election.
Virginia
Planned Parenthood Advocates of Virginia is backing a reproductive freedom amendment that would protect an individual’s decision-making on “prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, contraception, abortion care, miscarriage management, and fertility care.”
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If passed, the amendment would make abortion a “fundamental right” that could only be infringed upon because of “a compelling state interest achieved by the least restrictive means,” which is defined as improving the health of the individual seeking care.
The legislature could act to restrict abortion in the third trimester. However, the amendment specifies that the state cannot restrict abortions at any time in pregnancy if they are deemed necessary to “protect the life or physician or mental health of the pregnant individual” or if the fetus is deemed “not viable” by a medical professional.
