(Daily Citizen) On Election Night 2024, the pro-life movement finally broke the abortion industry’s winning streak on ballot measures.
Since Roe v. Wade was overturned on June 24, 2022, the pro-life movement had lost abortion ballot measures in all seven states that had voted on an initiative.
Voters in Michigan, California, Vermont and Ohio had passed constitutional amendments codifying the “right” to abortion. And voters in Kansas, Kentucky and Montana failed to approve pro-life ballot measures protecting the right to life.
But that losing streak – praise God – ended on November 5.
Voters in Florida, Nebraska and South Dakota rejected radical abortion amendments that would have placed the “right” to abortion in their state constitutions. As we’ve previously written, because life won in these three states, “it is estimated that more than 51,000 babies will be saved from abortion every year.”
That’s a huge deal and is great cause for celebration.
Unfortunately, pro-abortion ballot measures passed in seven other states. However, five of those states already had lenient pro-abortion laws on the books. Two states – Missouri and Arizona – had enacted pro-life laws that will now be overturned because of their respective constitutional amendments.
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Going forward, the pro-life movement should advocate for important state-level policy changes regarding the ballot measure process. States with pro-life legislatures should consider raising the threshold needed to pass any ballot measure to at least 60% or even a two-thirds majority of 67%.
Consider this: Florida’s abortion amendment failed because the state requires ballot measures receive 60% of the vote to pass. Amendment 4 failed by a 57.2% to 42.8% vote even though the pro-life side was outspent by over $100 million!
In contrast, Missouri’s abortion amendment passed because the state requires a ballot measure be approved by only a bare majority of voters. Amendment 3 passed with 51.6% of the vote, while 48.4% of citizens voted “No.”
Currently, 26 states allow some form of direct democracy – where citizens themselves vote upon proposed laws. Many of those states only require a majority of voters to approve constitutional amendments – a very easy threshold to reach, and allowing for outside, big money groups to influence results.
Our Founding Fathers were extremely wary of direct democracy. They were students of history and knew that tyranny is often a child of democracy.
James Madison, the architect of our Constitution, co-authored The Federalist Papers along with Alexander Hamilton and John Jay.
In Federalist No. 10, Madison warned that direct democracy is dangerous because it allows too much power to factions, by which he meant “a number of citizens, whether amounting to a majority or a minority of the whole, who are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion.”
He cautioned that direct democracy permits a faction of citizens to infringe upon the rights of the minority, writing,
He continued,
Madison’s solution was to establish a republican form of government, where lawmaking is delegated to a small number of citizens, rather than to the citizenry writ large.
He hoped that through a republican government, citizens would elect noble and virtuous lawmakers “whose wisdom may best discern the true interest of their country, and whose patriotism and love of justice will be least likely to sacrifice it to temporary or partial considerations.”
That’s exactly what the Framers of our Constitution established in these United States, with power separated between the three branches of government and a Bill of Rights established to protect the rights of each citizen.
Unfortunately, 26 states have forgotten the wisdom of our Founding Fathers. Pro-life legislators should heed their warning and consider raising the threshold needed for ballot measures to pass, or abolish the process altogether. Lawmakers in the 24 states without a ballot measure process should resist efforts to establish one.
Tweet This: Pro-life legislators should consider raising the threshold needed for ballot measures to pass or abolish the process altogether.
This way, the rights of the voiceless minority – millions of preborn babies – will be better protected and secured.
Editor's note:This article was published by the Daily Citizen and is reprinted with permission.
