--- title: Voters in Two States Approved Abortion Restrictions description: Two out of three states that were considering adding restrictions on abortion approved ballot measures on Tuesday. canonical: https://time.com/5447142/abortion-restrictions-ballot-measures/ author: Abigail Abrams article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-11-07T06:19:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T11:47:59.376Z article:section: Politics og:title: Voters in Two States Approved Abortion Restrictions on Tuesday og:description: But another measure failed in Oregon. og:url: https://time.com/5447142/abortion-restrictions-ballot-measures/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltddf3cfa49583c9c6/69893e7386f68ef8636eaa36/abortion-rights-protest.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: U.S. Supreme Court Issues Major Opinions On Abortion And Gun Rights og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Voters in Two States Approved Abortion Restrictions on Tuesday twitter:description: But another measure failed in Oregon. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltddf3cfa49583c9c6/69893e7386f68ef8636eaa36/abortion-rights-protest.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Voters in Two States Approved Abortion Restrictions on Tuesday > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Abigail Abrams](https://time.com/author/abigail-abrams/) ## Abigail Abrams Nov 7, 2018 6:19 AM UTC  Abortion rights and anti-abortion activists demonstrate on the steps of the United States Supreme Court on June 27, 2016 in Washington, D.C. In a 5-3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down one of the nation's toughest restrictions on abortion, a Texas law that women's groups said would have forced more than three-quarters of the state's clinics to close. Abortion rights and anti-abortion activists demonstrate on the steps of the United States Supreme Court on June 27, 2016 in Washington, D.C. In a 5-3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down one of the nation's toughest restrictions on abortion, a Texas law that women's groups said would have forced more than three-quarters of the state's clinics to close. Pete Marovich—Getty Images by [Abigail Abrams](https://time.com/author/abigail-abrams/) ## Abigail Abrams Nov 7, 2018 6:19 AM UTC Two out of three states that were considering adding restrictions on abortion approved ballot measures on Tuesday. In Alabama and West Virginia, voters approved measures that would set the stage for significantly restricting access to the procedure if _Roe v. Wade_ is overturned by the Supreme Court. Another measure in Oregon failed. The votes come as a new conservative majority on the nation’s highest court has made abortion rights supporters nervous. A [Pew Research Center poll](http://www.people-press.org/2018/09/26/wide-partisan-differences-on-importance-of-many-issues/) found that 61% of Democrats said abortion was “very important” to their vote this year, up from 38% in 2008. Here’s a look at the three ballot measures. ## **Alabama** Voters in Alabama approved an amendment to the state’s constitution that would effectively give a fetus the same rights as a person who has been born. Amendment 2 would [add language](http://www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/ballot-measures-database.aspx) to the Alabama constitution that would “recognize and support the sanctity of unborn life and the rights of unborn children.” The ballot measure also says the state “does not protect the right to abortion or require the funding of abortion.” Abortion rights advocates worry this could make it more difficult for women to get access to abortion through the courts or that it could lead to criminalizing contraception or in-vitro fertilization. Some also fear the amendment would effectively outlaw abortion in Alabama if _Roe v. Wade_ does get overturned. Other states have passed similar amendments, but Alabama’s does not include exceptions for incest, rape or life of the mother. ## **Oregon** In Oregon, Measure 106 would have prohibited public funds from paying for abortions, except in the cases of rape, incest or threats to the pregnant person’s health. Voters in the state rejected the measure on Tuesday. The measure would have meant that public employees and people on Medicaid could not get coverage for abortion in the state. This was the fourth time Oregonians have voted against abortion restrictions in recent decades, according to [Governing.com](http://www.governing.com/topics/health-human-services/gov-abortion-state-ballot-measure-roe-wade-kavanaugh-supreme-court.html). ## **West Virginia** In West Virginia, the “No Constitutional Right to Abortion Amendment” or Amendment 1, would explicitly change the state’s Constitution [to read](http://www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/ballot-measures-database.aspx) “nothing in this Constitution secures or protects a right to abortion or requires the funding of abortion.” The state legislature voted earlier this year to let West Virginia voters decide on the initiative, and on Tuesday, West Virginians approved it. The amendment would effectively mean that people in West Virginia do not have a right to abortions with Medicaid funding. Medicaid in the state currently covers abortions considered medically necessary, but the amendment does not include such broad exceptions. As with Alabama, reproductive rights advocates expressed concern that West Virginia’s amendment would pave the way for more restrictions on women being able to access safe abortions. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5447142/abortion-restrictions-ballot-measures/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5447142/abortion-restrictions-ballot-measures/"},"headline":"Voters in Two States Approved Abortion Restrictions on Tuesday","datePublished":"2018-11-07T06:19:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T11:47:59.376Z","description":"Three states let voters decide about new limits on abortion","url":"https://time.com/5447142/abortion-restrictions-ballot-measures/","keywords":["abortion","Midterms"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltddf3cfa49583c9c6/69893e7386f68ef8636eaa36/abortion-rights-protest.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Abigail Abrams","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/abigail-abrams/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltddf3cfa49583c9c6/69893e7386f68ef8636eaa36/abortion-rights-protest.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"U.S. Supreme Court Issues Major Opinions On Abortion And Gun Rights","caption":"U.S. Supreme Court Issues Major Opinions On Abortion And Gun Rights","creditText":"Pete Marovich—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/abortion/","name":"abortion"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5447142/abortion-restrictions-ballot-measures/","name":"Voters in Two States Approved Abortion Restrictions on Tuesday"}}]}] ```