Abortion laws turned out in favor for the pro-choice side of the debate. Well, a little bit. And Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act isn’t looking good with the re-election of four Republican governors in Florida, Wisconsin, Maine and Kansas.
In Colorado, voters rejected the proposal to add “unborn human beings” to the state’s criminal code, essentially denying the “personhood” angle of the debate. Following the vote tally, North Dakota will not be putting an amendment into place that declares in the state constitution: “the inalienable right to life of every human being at every stage of development must be recognized and protected.”
Here’s where it shifts.
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Tennessee voters approved a measure stating that state legislators should call the shots when it comes to abortion regulation. This could be a problem for those who support the legal right.
In similar news (but not from the election):
The Oklahoma Supreme Court on Tuesday blocked two new laws that critics say may have made it difficult for women to obtain abortions in the state. But in a unanimous decision released Tuesday, the State Supreme Court voted to prevent enforcement of the rules until lawsuits challenging their constitutionality are settled by a lower court.
One of the laws requires clinics to have a physician with admitting privileges at a local hospital present during abortion procedures. The other measure prohibits the use of medication to induce abortions after 49 days of pregnancy.
Here’s the scoop on Medicaid and what is and isn’t happening alongside the ACA:
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Winners in this election, Scott Walker in Wisconsin, Sam Brownback in Kansas and Paul LePage in Maine oppose expansion of the program. Rick Scott, the Republican governor of Florida, has endorsed the expansion, which would extend coverage to an estimated 848,000 people, but has never advocated for it forcefully, and he is not expected to now, according to The New York Times.
And it turns out Arkansas might reverse course on their previous expansion of the program.
The legislature has to reauthorize the program every year with a three-quarters majority, leaving the expansion vulnerable to political shifts. Asa Hutchinson, a Republican who appears to be unenthusiastic about the expansion, was elected governor. And opponents of expansion picked up two critical votes in the state Senate.
[Photo from flickr user Vox Efx]
