Measures that would protect abortion access are on track to appear on the ballot in 10 states in November, but abortion opponents are engaged in last-ditch legal maneuvering to try to prevent voters from weighing in on the proposals.

In Republican-dominated Missouri, for example, the state Supreme Court ruled this week that a constitutional amendment to legalize abortion up to the point of fetal viability must be put before voters — issuing its decision less than three hours before a constitutional deadline to finalize the ballot.

The day before, Missouri Republican Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft had decertified the measure in a bid to quash it. Anti-abortion state lawmakers and activists had sued Ashcroft last month, alleging his initial certification of the ballot measure was invalid because it failed to meet all legal requirements.

“This fight was not just about this amendment,” Rachel Sweet, campaign manager for Missourians for Constitutional Freedom, said in a statement. Her group led the effort for the ballot measure. “It was about defending the integrity of the initiative petition process and ensuring that Missourians can shape their future directly.”

In Nebraska and South Dakota, two other states where Republicans dominate state government, last-minute legal battles have created uncertainty about whether abortion access measures will stand even if voters approve them.

And in Florida, GOP officials used a state website to warn people against voting for a ballot measure that would expand abortion rights, while state police have shown up at the homes of people who signed the ballot measure petition to confirm that they actually signed it. Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis said police are investigating possible fraud, but abortion advocates argue the real goal is to intimidate voters. Republicans also control both chambers of that legislature.

The 10 states with abortion protection measures on the ballot are Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New York and South Dakota. In eight states, the measures were initiated by citizens who had to gather hundreds of thousands of signatures and navigate bureaucratic red tape to get them in front of voters. In two other states, Democratic-controlled Maryland and New York, legislators placed the measures on the ballot.

In several states, anti-abortion activists have tried to remove the measures from the ballot by arguing that they are overly broad, or that the citizen groups behind them didn’t fully comply with state requirements.

Missouri state Sen. Mary Elizabeth Coleman and state Rep. Hannah Kelly, both Republicans, along with two other anti-abortion plaintiffs, filed the lawsuit that wound up before the Missouri Supreme Court.

“The Missouri Supreme Court turned a blind eye and ruled Missourians don’t have to be fully informed about the laws their votes may overturn before signing initiative petitions,” the plaintiffs said in a joint statement shared by Kelly.

Nebraska voters will see dueling constitutional amendments on the ballot: One would establish the right to abortion up to fetal viability, while the other would ban nearly all abortions in the second and third trimesters of pregnancy.

But whether Nebraskans will get to vote on them depends on three lawsuits currently before the Nebraska Supreme Court, two of which target the abortion rights amendment. The third was filed by abortion rights advocates, asking the court to either allow both amendments on the ballot or neither of them. Nebraska Republican Secretary of State Bob Evnen must decide by today whether to certify the ballot.

A lawsuit over South Dakota’s abortion amendment goes to trial later this month, after early voting in the state begins. An anti-abortion rights group sued in June to block the ballot question, challenging the validity of the petition’s signatures.

The proposed amendment, which would limit how and when the state can regulate abortion, will appear on South Dakota’s ballot regardless of the trial’s outcome because the case wasn’t decided by the Aug. 13 certification deadline. But if the court later rules the signatures invalid, it would nullify the results of the vote.

“These last-minute efforts are part of a relentless campaign to make it harder for voters to weigh in on an issue they care deeply about and that can permanently alter their lives,” said Alice Clapman, senior counsel for voting rights at the Brennan Center for Justice, a voting rights group based at the New York University School of Law, in an email to Stateline.

“In states under one-party control, like Missouri, Nebraska and South Dakota, abortion opponents are trying to close off the only remaining avenue voters have to reform their laws,” she wrote.

In Florida, the state health agency launched a “Florida is Protecting Life” website earlier this month that says Florida’s abortion amendment “threatens women’s safety” and warns voters, “Don’t let the fearmongers lie to you.” The site makes several other unsubstantiated claims, including that the amendment would lead to unregulated and unsafe abortions.

Asked about accusations that leadership misused public funds to launch the site, the agency defended the website in a statement: “Our new transparency page serves to educate Floridians on the state’s current abortion laws and provide information on a proposed policy change that would impact care across the state.”

But amendment advocates have decried the use of public money. Natasha Sutherland, communications director for Floridians Protecting Freedom, an organization behind the ballot measure, called it a “state-sponsored and taxpayer-funded political ad.”

“Florida politicians are trying to take away our power to decide our future, which is why they are weaponizing a state agency and using taxpayer dollars to undermine the democratic process and threaten the freedoms of every Floridian,” she told Stateline in an email.

Florida agency director Jason Weida said in a statement on the social platform X — shared by the agency’s account — that the page was launched “to combat the lies and disinformation surrounding Florida’s abortion laws.” The agency also released a video this week directing people to the site.

Meanwhile, the Florida Department of State is reviewing thousands of signatures that were collected to get the amendment on the ballot, despite the signatures being verified by local supervisors months ago.

Last month, the Florida Supreme Court sided with the state in allowing language on the ballot that abortion-rights activists say improperly inflates the amendment’s projected costs.

Since the U.S. Supreme Court dismantled the federal constitutional right to an abortion in June 2022, voters in half a dozen states, including conservative Kansas and Kentucky, have voted to protect abortion access. So far, voters have not defeated any abortion rights ballot measure.

A majority of likely Florida voters said they’d vote for the abortion rights measure there, according to a poll released last week by The Hill and Emerson College Polling. Fifty-five percent said they would vote yes on the amendment, while 26% plan to vote no, with 20% unsure. Nearly two-thirds of Arizona voters said they’d vote for Arizona’s constitutional amendment to establish the right to an abortion up to fetal viability, according to a Fox News poll in August.

Clapman said chances of passage vary by state, based on factors including public opinion, the state’s current abortion policy and how the ballot measures are worded.

“Although voters in South Dakota, Missouri and Florida tend to be relatively conservative on abortion issues,” she said, “they also may be particularly motivated to support abortion rights because they’re currently living under abortion bans and are seeing and experiencing the dire effects of these bans.”

Stateline is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Stateline maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Scott S. Greenberger for questions: info@stateline.org. Follow Stateline on Facebook and X.