Mitch Prosser | November 8, 2024 | SHARE: 
On Tuesday, November 5, 2024, ten states asked citizens to make a choice between life and death. Since the overturning of Roe v. Wade in June of 2022, 16 states have placed abortion on the ballot (For a list of each state and its decision click HERE). In the 2022 and 2023 elections, every ballot measure vote protected abortion and failed to protect life. These alarming results have left many in the pro-life community bewildered and searching for what hope they could find leading up to the 2024 election.
Everything changed on June 24, 2022. Since that warm and sunny Friday outside of the Supreme Court of the United States, a great divide has grown, and a stark contrast between competing worldviews has been realized.
The pro-life community celebrated the decision on that historic summer day. Those who supported the cause for the unborn lauded the Court’s ruling in the Dobbs decision and noted that it was a day that many had waited their whole lives to see. Young champions for life like Macy Petty and Alivia Grace Talley shared their elation with Sky News, “…we are back to a post-Roe America,” and “I just can’t stop thinking: thank you Jesus. I know that this is an act of God. I totally know that. And I just can’t stop thinking that.”
On the other hand, abortion supporters have said they have great concern for what they claim to be “women’s health”- expressing variations of the bodily autonomy argument and placing little or no emphasis on the life of the child growing in a mother’s womb. This misleading focus has caused many women to change their opinions on what they believe is important when it comes to our elected officials and the laws that are made. One such instance can be read in Geoff Mulvihill’s Associated Press article from October 11, 2024. In the piece, he explains that about 40% of women under 30 listed abortion as their top concern in an October survey conducted by KFF. Remarkably, that number jumped up from 20% of women under 30 surveyed just six months earlier.
While many in the pro-life community looked at the Dobbs decision as a finish line in the hard-fought race to overturn Roe, this was not an accurate evaluation. Just as misguided was the claim of abortion supporters that the Supreme Court’s decision was a direct assault on “women’s healthcare” or a “war on women.” Both of these conclusions reflect a misunderstanding of the status of the issue and the law. That day in June was far more than a goal to be achieved or another attempt to rid women of their rights.
Conversely, it may be properly understood that the 2022 decision was just the beginning of a longer education campaign for the pro-life community to teach future generations the value of being created in God’s image and the sanctity of human life.
As the 2024 race for the White House began to take shape, human life in the womb was placed in the middle of the battlefield. From Florida to Nevada, 10 states across the country decided to put life on the ballot. With different starting points and varying goals in mind, one consistent reality was present- these states were choosing between life and death.
On Tuesday evening, as election results were announced, a voice for the voiceless and a shout of hope rang out. Florida became the first state since the Dobbs decision to fail to protect abortion, when the choice between life and death has been on the ballot The measure that would have protected abortion required 60%,support, and about 56% voted yes. Thankfully, Governor Ron DeSantis spent months campaigning to protect children in the womb, and the ballot measure failed- and life will continue to be cherished in the Sunshine State. Seven of the ten states, however, chose death over life. Enshrining abortion into its state laws were: Arizona, Colorado, Maryland, Missouri, Montana (which voted first in 2022), Nevada, and New York.
South Dakota and Nebraska joined Florida in protecting the innocent and choosing life. Interestingly, Nebraska posed 2 questions to is voters. One protected life from abortion after the 12th week, while the other ballot question would have made abortion legal until viability. Many in the pro-life community waited prayerfully throughout election night to see what the voters of Nebraska would choose. In a back-and-forth race between the 2 questions, the prayers of many were answered and the people of Nebraska chose to protect life by a narrow margin.
While the future is unknowable, it is certain that those who want to further the pro-abortion agenda will not stop. Whether they continue to propose new ballot questions or employ new strategies, the pro-life community must continually stand its ground. Not only when it comes to legislation, but to provide hope for women in crisis and children who are in need.
(If you are doing math, you’ll notice that the title of this article mentions 11 states, but only 10 have been mentioned thus far. That’s because of West Virginia.)
On November 5th, West Virginia became the first state in the nation to introduce an end-of-life question to its voters. Amendment 1 would protect people from medically assisted suicide.
While many have focused their efforts nobly on protecting babies from abortion, a quiet rumbling has been felt around the globe. Countries like Canada and Switzerland have activated different strategies to assist people interested in ending their own life. Here at home, 10 states and Washington DC have legalized the practice of physician assisted suicide. While health issues can be complex, the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual wellbeing of our most vulnerable must be guarded vigilantly in protecting life from conception until natural death.
Thankfully, the people of West Virginia voted to protect life and supported Amendment 1. But there is some cause for concern. As was the case in all of the other states where life was protected, it was done with a razor-thin majority.
As this matter of life and death is continually called into question from state to state, the pro-life community must be clear and decisive. There is no room for equivocation. We must stand boldly and firmly for the sanctity of human life and fact that we are made in the image of our Creator. We have the opportunity to speak for those who cannot, and show compassion to those who are hurting.
