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10 States Set to Vote on Abortion Rights Amendments in 2024 Elections
After months of collecting signatures, filing petitions, and navigating courts, constitutional amendments to safeguard or extend abortion rights are set to appear on the general election ballots in ten states.
Voters in swing states (Arizona and Nevada), blue-leaning states (Colorado, Maryland, and New York), and red-leaning states (Florida, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, and South Dakota) will be able to personally decide the future of abortion access this fall. Only Arkansas organisers gathered enough signatures to qualify an abortion rights amendment for the ballot this year.
Since the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022, these ten efforts will be the most recent attempts to include abortion access in state constitutions.
Here’s what the proposed amendments would do if they passed, as well as how they’d affect the states’ current abortion care legislation.
Arizona
The proposed constitutional amendment on the ballot in this critical southwestern battleground would create a “fundamental right” to abortion up until foetal viability, or around the 24th week of pregnancy. After that, the legislation would prohibit the state from regulating abortion in cases when the pregnant person’s health or life is in danger, according to the treating health care expert.
Abortion is lawful in Arizona until the 15th week of pregnancy, with exceptions for life-saving reasons and no exceptions for rape or incest. If voters accept the proposed ballot initiative in November, it will effectively end the 15-week prohibition. It requires a simple majority of votes to pass.
Colorado
Colorado’s proposed amendment would explicitly recognise the right to abortion and prohibit discrimination against its exercise.
It also specifically specifies that the government may not limit abortion coverage under health insurance plans, including those for public employees and those subsidised by the government. This legislation would effectively repeal a 1984 statute prohibiting people from using their health insurance to pay for abortion care.
The ballot measure in Colorado, where there are no abortion restrictions and no gestational limits for women seeking abortions, is meant to permanently enshrine those rights, which organisers say is critical to preventing lawmakers from undoing them in the future.
To pass in November, the proposition must receive 55% of voter support, not just a simple majority, according to state law.
Florida
The state’s ballot measure prohibits limits on abortion before foetal viability, with exceptions for “the patient’s health, as determined by the patient’s healthcare provider.”
The proposed amendment would eliminate the state’s six-week abortion restriction, with exceptions for rape, incest, and the woman’s life.
According to Florida law, the proposition needs get 60% of voter approval in November, rather than a simple majority, to pass.
Maryland
Maryland lawmakers, who control the amendment process rather than citizens, voted to place a proposition on the ballot that would include abortion rights in the state constitution.
The proposed phrase would provide the right to “make and effectuate decisions to prevent, continue, or end one’s own pregnancy.”
Abortion is already authorised in the state until foetal viability, with exceptions when the woman’s life or health is endangered or a foetal anomaly is discovered. A simple majority is required for passage.
Missouri
Missouri’s proposed amendment protects abortion rights until foetal viability, with exceptions for the mother’s life and health.
The amendment expressly states that the government “shall not deny or infringe upon a person’s fundamental right to reproductive freedom,” which the amendment defines as all decisions related to reproductive health care, including “birth control,” “abortion care,” and “miscarriage care” — up until foetal viability. The plan also states that any “denial, interference, delay, or restriction” of such care is “invalid.”
After then, the government may control abortion unless a treating health care expert determines that the mother’s “life, physical, or mental health” is at risk.
The amendment allows lawmakers and state officials to restrict abortion rights if it improves or maintains a person’s health, aligns with clinical standards and evidence-based medicine, and does not interfere with their autonomy.
Missouri now has one of the harshest abortion laws in the United States, with exceptions for the mother’s life and medical emergency. If the amendment were to succeed, it would effectively repeal the statute. A simple majority is required for passage.
Montana
Montana’s ballot issue proposes amending the state constitution to grant the right to “make and carry out decisions about one’s own pregnancy, including the right to abortion.” likewise “prohibit the government from denying or burdening the right to abortion before foetal viability,” and it will “prohibit the government from denying or burdening access to an abortion when a treating healthcare professional determines it is medically indicated to protect the pregnant patient’s life or health.”
Enshrining abortion rights in Montana’s constitution would make it more difficult for lawmakers to repeal present protections, as abortion is now lawful up until foetal viability. A simple majority is required for passage.
Nebraska
In Nebraska, two competing constitutional amendments will be on the November ballot.
One ballot initiative, “Protect the Right to Abortion,” would change the state’s constitution to specify that “all persons shall have a fundamental right to abortion until foetal viability, or when needed to protect the life or health of the pregnant patient.”
The other, known as “Protect Women and Children,” prohibits abortions in the second and third trimesters, with the exception of a medical emergency or a pregnancy caused by sexual assault or incest.
Nebraska law now prohibits abortion after 12 weeks of pregnancy, with the exception of rape, incest, and preserving the mother’s life. The pro-abortion rights bill would virtually repeal the law, whilst the other would essentially codify it into the state constitution.
To pass in Nebraska, a ballot proposal must get a majority of the vote and at least 35% of the total votes cast in the election in favour. If both amendments pass, the one that receives the most votes wins.
Nevada
In Nevada, abortion is already permitted until the 24th week of pregnancy.To guarantee abortion rights up to foetal viability, reproductive rights campaigners successfully placed a constitutional amendment on the November ballot.
According to state law, even if the initiative succeeds in November, voters must approve it again in 2026 before the Nevada constitution is formally altered.
New York
The amendment process in New York, like in Maryland, is controlled by lawmakers rather than citizens. State legislators voted to place a referendum on the ballot that would include abortion rights in the state constitution.
The Equal Protection of Law Amendment would safeguard a person’s “pregnancy, pregnancy outcomes, and reproductive healthcare and autonomy” by enshrining rights in the state constitution, without specifically mentioning abortion.
Abortion is lawful in New York up until about the 24th week of pregnancy. Passing the plan, which requires only a simple majority, would effectively constitutionalise those projections.
South Dakota
South Dakota’s proposed constitutional amendment would legalise abortion during the first trimester of pregnancy. It would permit “regulation” of abortion by the state in the second trimester of pregnancy, although such control “must be reasonably related to the physical health of the pregnant woman.”
The amendment would authorise “regulation or prohibition” by the state in the third trimester, unless a physician determines that the care is required to “preserve the life or health” of the woman.
If passed, the amendment will effectively repeal the state’s near-total abortion restriction, which was reinstated when Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022. The rule, which abortion advocates claim is among the most stringent in the United States, outlaws all abortions except when necessary to save the woman’s life.
GENEVA — Sebastian Coe, Two former Olympic winners are running for president of the International Olympic Committee. So is a prince from a Middle Eastern monarchy and the son of a previous president. The world’s best in cycling, gymnastics, and skiing are also competing.
The International Olympic Committee announced on Monday a list of seven potential candidates to run for president in March, succeeding outgoing president Thomas Bach for the next eight years.
Solely one woman, Zimbabwean IOC executive board member Kirsty Coventry, competed to lead an organization that has solely had male presidents throughout its 130-year history. Eight of the presidents were from Europe, with one from the United States.
Coventry and Sebastian Coe have won two gold medals in swimming and running, respectively. Prince Feisal al Hussein of Jordan also serves on the IOC board.
coe
Sebastian Coe Among 7 IOC Members To Enter Race To Succeed Thomas Bach As President
Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr., an investment banker from Spain, is one of the four IOC vice presidents. His father served as president for 21 years, until 2001.
David Lappartient is the president of cycling’s regulatory body, Molinari Watanabe is in charge of gymnastics, and Johan Eliasch is the president of the International Ski and Snowboard Federation. Coe is the president of World Athletics.
All seven met a Sunday deadline to write a letter of intent to Bach, who must leave office next year after serving the full 12-year term. Bach declined to pursue IOC rule changes at the Paris Olympics last month to remain in office longer.
The next president’s term will include hosting the Summer Games in Los Angeles in 2028 and Brisbane, Australia, four years later. The IOC has many major issues, including selecting a host for the 2036 Olympics — with India and Qatar in the running — assessing the impact of climate change on the global sports calendar, and renewing the U.S. television arrangement, which has been a cornerstone of Olympic financing.
A formal candidate list should be announced in January, three months before the March 18-21 election in Greece, on the site of ancient Olympia.
Only IOC members are eligible to run as candidates, with the rest of the Olympic body’s 111 members casting their ballots.
The International Olympic Committee is one of the most exclusive clubs in international sports. Its members include European and Middle Eastern nobility, international sports body officials, former and current Olympic athletes, politicians, and diplomats, as well as industrialists, including billionaires such as Eliasch.
It makes for one of the most quiet and unusual election campaigns in sports history, with members barred from publicly promoting their candidate.
Campaign restrictions for candidates include a ban on broadcasting films, organizing public gatherings, and participating in public debates. They are likely to release manifestos before the IOC holds a closed-door meeting to address voters in January in its home city of Lausanne, Switzerland.
The top post at the IOC ideally requires extensive knowledge of sports management, an appreciation of athletes’ requirements, and quick global political skills.
The president leads an organisation that generates billions of dollars in revenue from broadcasting and sponsorship deals during the Olympic Games and employs hundreds of people.
Coe has been universally regarded as the most qualified contender. He was a two-time Olympic champion in the 1,500 meters before becoming an elected MP in Britain in the 1990s. He also oversaw the bidding and organising committees for the 2012 London Olympics and has presided over World Athletics for nine years.
However, he has disagreed with the IOC, Bach, and other sports leaders on a number of issues, notably his strong stance against Russia on state-sponsored doping and the invasion of Ukraine, coe as well as the decision to pay $50,000 cash rewards to track and field gold medallists in Paris.
“The International Olympic Committee must prioritise a laser-like concentration on sport. In a statement released Monday, Coe stated, “I believe I can help achieve this and more.”
However, he may face legal challenges in fulfilling his eight-year tenure. The IOC’s membership age restriction is 70, and Coe will be 68 on election day. The regulations allow for a special exemption to continue for four more years, but this would result in a six-year presidency unless the restrictions are adjusted.
Coventry, who turned 41 on Monday, previously served as Zimbabwe’s appointed sports minister.
Sebastian Coe Among 7 IOC Members To Enter Race To Succeed Thomas Bach As President
Anita DeFrantz, a former Olympic rower from the United States, was the only woman to run for president of the International Olympic Committee. She was defeated in the first round of voting in a five-candidate contest in 2001, which was won by Jacques Rogge.
Samaranch, who turns 65 in November, is the candidates’ longest-serving member, having joined in 2001 when his father stood down. The Spanish official would also want an extension to the IOC’s age limit.
Lappartient is also the president of France’s national Olympic committee, which has built on the success of the Paris Summer Games. He oversees a French Alps initiative that has been chosen to host the 2030 Winter Games, and Bach has appointed him to supervise a long-term project signed in Paris that will see Saudi Arabia host the Esports Olympic Games until 2035.
Eliasch is perhaps the most surprising contender, having been chosen as an IOC member in Paris less than two months ago. The Swedish-British owner of the Head sportswear company received 17 “no” votes, which is unusually high in Olympic politics.
SOURCE | AP
News
Trump Promises “Save the Country.” He Blames Biden-Harris’s ‘Rhetoric’ for the New Assassination Attempt.
(VOR News) – Former presidents Barack Obama told Fox News Digital that his second assassination Trump attempt since July was a result of Democrats’ “highly inflammatory language,” and that President Biden and Vice President Harris’ “rhetoric” was “causing him to feel as though he were shot at.”.”
Monday morning, Trump held an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital, one day after the Secret Service discovered a shooter in the shrubbery at the Trump International golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Suspect Ryan Wesley Routh was carrying two luggage and an AK-47 as he pointed a Go-Pro camera through the chain-link fence towards the green. Even though the suspect ran away, they were caught on Interstate 95.
Authorities think there was an attempt on Trump’s life.
This was Trump’s second attempt at assassination since July, but he was uninjured.
According to Trump, the gunman’s actions were influenced by the words he heard from Biden and Harris, as he told Fox News Digital. As a result of their rhetoric, I am being shot at, when in reality I am the one who intends to save the country, and they are the ones who are destroying it – both internally and externally.”
Trump used the fact that Biden and Harris had called him a “threat to democracy” in the past to support his designation of them as “unity” leaders.
Trump said, “They are the exact opposite.” “These are people that want to destroy our country.”
His next statement was, “The internal enemy.” They pose the greatest risk. Officials have suggested Ryan Wesley Routh as the name. He lives in Hawaii and has had a lot of legal issues during the course of the 1990s.
Routh restated on social media the assertions made by Biden and Harris that “Democratic is on the ballot” and that Democrats “cannot lose.”
Apart from his regular political analysis, Routh only made contributions to Democratic causes. “They do it with a combination of rhetoric and lawsuits they wrap me up in,” he said. That is the rhetoric dangerous fools, such as the shooter, listen to – and the same applies to the first one.”
Trump has often been described by Democrats as a “threat to democracy,” especially in light of the way he handled the altercation in the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
He accused Trump of inciting Haitian immigrant violence in Springfield, Ohio. Over the weekend, Biden said at a meeting that “any president should reject hate in America” and “not incite it.”
The White House did not reply to a communication from Fox News Digital, nor did Harris’s campaign or running mate, Minnesota Governor Time Warner, acknowledge receipt of it.
In addition, Trump claimed that by “allowing millions of very dangerous migrants to pour into it and destroying our country and cities,” Biden and Harris’ policies were “destructing” the country.
“From the outside, we appear weak and feeble and we are no longer respected by the world.” he said.
Trump chastised the media after the Harris debate last week.
“The media is made up of fools that will spew [Democrats’] garbage and spew their sick philosophies and will protect them at all costs, and they can’t believe they get away with it,” he said. “Democrats are totally protected by the media.”
The conversation on ABC News last week, according to Trump, was “so biased and so out of control.”
Harris was the one who made up the details about Project 2025. He said, “She lied about everything, including abortion.” “She was correcting me.”
Then he said, “one against three.” David Muir appeals to me somehow. Though he is a sleeze like everyone else, I thought he was fantastic.
Trump advised Democrats to change their language given just 50 days until Election Day. He highlighted the remark, “They use highly inflammatory language.”
On July 13, Trump was shot in the ear while attending an event in Pennsylvania. The gunman left one person dead and numerous others wounded before police fired and killed him.
SOURCE: FN
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Biden and Harris Assert that the Return of Trump Represents a Reversal of “Black Progress.”
(VOR News) – A hypothetical return of Donald Trump to the Biden White House would be damaging to the immense progress that African Americans have accomplished.
According to statements made by Vice President Kamala Harris and President Joe Biden on Saturday at the annual Phoenix Awards ceremony hosted by the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation.
Both Vice President Biden and Senator Harris, while addressing Black politicians and leaders, highlighted the significance of the approaching election and called attention to the various factors that have the potential to influence the advancement of racial equality in the United States today.
Harris, who is running for vice president in the 2024 presidential election, has criticized President Trump and Senator JD Vance for adopting a policy that is intended to create division in society.
Harris is trying to follow Vice President Joe Biden in the race for the presidency.
According to Harris’s argument, persons who are under-represented may have fewer opportunities, freedoms, and access to justice as a consequence of the actions taken by Trump.
“Donald Trump and his extremist allies want to move our nation backward,” she stated, underlining the need of African-American voters showing their support for the candidate.
In order to reaffirm the point that Harris was trying to make, the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation presented Vice President Joe Biden with a lifetime achievement award.
As an example, he referred to recent statements made by Vance, in which he spread inaccurate information about Haitian immigrants in Ohio. He used these statements as an illustration. It was his opinion that such language is both harmful and untrue.
Using Trump’s participation in the rioting that broke out at the Capitol on January 6 and his treatment of George Floyd’s demonstrations as more evidence of his track record of inflaming racial tensions, Vice President Biden demonstrated that Trump has a history of adding fuel to the fire.
During their respective statements, both Biden and Harris made reference to the accomplishments of the government.
The decrease in the poverty rate among African American children, the support of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs), and initiatives to close the wealth imbalance among diverse ethnic groups are some of the accomplishments that have been made.
The Vice President of the United States, Joe Biden, reiterated his unwavering endorsement of Harris by stating, “I will take great pride in witnessing her inauguration as president of the United States of America from the steps of the Capitol.”
In light of the fact that African-American voters, and African-American women in particular, are a sizeable portion of the Democratic base, the attendance of Biden and Harris signalled that a concerted attempt was being made to electrify this demographic prior to the election in November.
The recent pledge made by President Trump to carry out mass deportations of Haitian immigrants from Springfield, Ohio, has stoked the flames of debate within the United States.
This was a response to allegations that had been made that the local population was being negatively affected by recent arrivals from Haiti.
In spite of the fact that the vast majority of Haitians are legally present in the United States, President Trump made this assertion during a press conference that took place in Los Angeles.
When Trump made the statement, “We will do large deportations from Springfield,” he was making a reference to the approximately 12,000–15,000 Haitian residents who live in the city.
In addition, the campaign of Donald Trump has made disparaging remarks about Harris for the reason that she is a Black woman with multi-ethnic background.
Not only is Harris the first person of African descent to hold the position of vice president, but if she is elected, she will also make history by being the first Black woman to hold the position of president.
SOURCE: Tribune
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