Midterms Put Abortion, Transgender Rights on Ballot — SkimNews
Get the Health newsletter
Daily health & science — research, biotech, public health, the studies worth knowing. Free.
- State initiatives on transgender rights and abortion access will show how voters across the U.S. regard those contentious health care issues.
- The Supreme Court overturned national protections for abortion, after which a record number of states voted on the procedure in 2024; the current midterm initiative volume is lower.
- The Make America Healthy Again movement has taken a backseat in the midterms, with surprisingly few measures focused on issues central to it.
- Medicaid and school meals will be on ballots in a small number of states, even as relatively few initiatives address other issues central to the Make America Healthy Again movement.
- Four states are considering measures that would prohibit transgender youth from participating on school athletics teams aligned with their gender identity; proposals in two states would bolster bans already in place.
Why it matters: For transgender youth in four states, the athletics measures put a defined policy choice on the ballot; proposals in two states would extend bans already in place. That concrete consequence makes the measures a direct test of state voter attitudes toward transgender rights, even as the overall initiative volume declines from 2024.
Ask SkimNews
