A ballot measure is a law, issue, or question that appears on a statewide or local ballot for voters of that jurisdiction to decide. This could be an “initiative” (collecting petitions to support the measure being added to the ballot) or a “referendum” where the measure begins in the legislature.

A constitutional amendment is a change to the state’s constitution that is ratified by voters in an election. Some ballot measures impact a state’s constitution, allowing an amendment to be added. Amendments can impact voters for generations and would need to go through a similar process to be repealed.

Voting “Yes” on an upcoming ballot measure claiming “Reproductive Freedom” will mean adding taxpayer–funded abortion through all nine months, for any reason, into your state’s constitution. Once added, this will be very hard to remove or change.

Voting “No” doesn’t repeal any existing state laws regarding abortion. All state laws protect the right to life-saving care for mothers, as well as in other extreme medical conditions and other extreme medical conditions, and most states allow abortion in cases of rape and incest.

Neither miscarriage nor ectopic pregnancies are treated through abortion and therefore are completely unrelated to the upcoming ballot measures. Sadly, some political groups use these real, traumatic events to fearmonger voters into supporting something they otherwise would not (abortion up until birth). Necessary healthcare for miscarriages and ectopic pregnancies is already legal in every state and widely available at hospitals and clinics.

Later-term abortions, or those done beyond 16 weeks‘ gestation (about 4 months of pregnancy), are invasive, surgical procedures that either dismember or poison the fetus. By this point in a baby’s gestation, the baby has a heartbeat, can feel the pain of the procedure, and has developed all internal organs. Later-term abortions are sold to women for anywhere from $500-$10,000 and are never medically necessary (the baby can simply be delivered whole and alive – see more below). Women are often unnecessarily sold these procedures for thousands of dollars by abortion industry leaders who have financial self-interest in keeping later-term abortions legal through ballot measures.