STAT+: The key health care ballot measures we’re watching in the midterms — SkimNews
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- State ballot measures on contentious health care issues, including transgender rights and abortion access, will show how voters across the U.S. regard those matters.
- The Supreme Court decision to overturn national protections for abortion was followed by a record number of state votes in 2024; the current midterm initiative volume is lower.
- Make America Healthy Again has taken a backseat in the midterms, with surprisingly few measures focused on issues central to the movement.
- Medicaid and school meals will feature in ballot measures in a small number of states.
- Four states will consider prohibiting transgender youth from participating on school athletics teams aligned with their gender identity; in two, the proposals would strengthen existing bans.
Why it matters: For transgender youth, the four athletics measures put participation on teams aligned with their gender identity before voters. In at least two states, bans already exist and the latest proposals would strengthen them; all four states would put the same category of school-athletics restriction to a ballot vote.
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