States Limit Access to Abortion and the Ballot Box

WASHINGTON, D.C. – May 30, 2024 – A new report, Democracy & Abortion Access: Restrictive Voting Laws Threaten Freedoms, by the National Partnership for Women & Families found that the states with abortion bans and other severe restrictions are among the states with the most repressive voting measures.

Last year, state legislators considered at least 356 bills to restrict voting access. At least 14 states enacted voting restrictions, including photo ID requirements, new restrictions on mail-in and absentee ballots, purging voter rolls, and election interference laws that create criminal penalties for election workers.

Using the Cost of Voting Index, the National Partnership found that states ranked as the most difficult to vote are more likely to have enacted abortion restrictions:

• Of the 25 states where it is most difficult to vote, only three – Michigan, Connecticut, and Montana – are categorized as “protective” of abortion access.
• The five states ranked easiest to vote in are also categorized as “protective” or “most protective” of abortion access.
• States in the bottom half of the Cost of Voting Index rankings are three times more likely to be categorized as having abortion laws that are “restrictive,” “very restrictive,” or “most restrictive” than other states.

Twenty-one states have implemented abortion bans or significant restrictions, and several others are either in the process of considering severe restrictions or have passed bans that have been suspended by the courts . The consequences have been enormous, as the National Partnership analysis found:

• Of the 25 states where it is most difficult to vote, only three – Michigan, Connecticut, and Montana – are categorized as “protective” of abortion access.
• More than 36 million women of reproductive age are living in these states
• Black and Native American women are most likely to live in those states, as are disabled women and those who are economically insecure

Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Texas are all states that were formerly subject to preclearance requirements under the Voting Rights Act, until the Supreme Court’s infamous Shelby decision eviscerating preclearance requirements. These states are home to 14 million women of reproductive age who have had both their right to personal autonomy and access to the ballot box restricted by Supreme Court decisions.

“Voter suppression and abortion restrictions are two prongs of the same strategy pushed by extremists to undermine our democracy and turn the clock backwards,” said Jocelyn Frye, President of the National Partnership for Women & Families. “As we approach the second anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overturning Roe v. Wade, we can see the havoc this decision has wrought upon every aspect of women’s lives — from their health and well-being to their economic stability to their ability to live their best lives. Democracy as we know it is under threat, and we must stand up to defend it.”

This report is the second in a three-part series titled Democracy and Abortion Access. The full report can be found here.

You can find the first report Democracy & Abortion Access: State Legislatures’ Lack of Representation Threatens Freedoms here.

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