Abortion vote: here are the US states voting on a woman’s right to choose

When the US supreme court overturned Roe v Wade in June, it put the matter of regulating abortion entirely in the hands of the states. This November, voters will weigh in on ballot initiatives that will decide the future of abortion in five of those states: California, Kentucky, Michigan, Montana and Vermont.

Reproductive rights proponents are hoping to replicate their historic win in Kansas, where a reliably conservative state successfully defeated an anti-abortion ballot initiative in August.

Taken together, this is the highest number of abortion-related referendums up for consideration in a single year, and the most powerful bellwether of the national fallout from the supreme court decision.

In Michigan, a battle for abortion rights has centered around whether a 1931 abortion ban, currently blocked, can be enforced. The ballot initiative this November asks voters to protect abortion in the state constitution; if it fails, the 1931 ban could go into effect.

Michiganders are largely in support of abortion rights. Analysis suggests 55% of voters believe abortion should be mostly legal, compared with 39% who believe it should be mostly illegal. Other polling suggests 64% of Michiganders support adding a constitutional protection for abortion through the ballot initiative.

Abortion is already banned in Kentucky through a "trigger ban" from 2019 that came into effect immediately after Roe fell. But with legal challenges seeking to overturn the ban, opponents want to tighten their grip.

The ACLU will argue in court on 15 November, after the midterms are over, that Kentucky's constitution protects abortion. Anti-abortion advocates are hoping to get ahead of that case with the ballot measure asking Kentucky voters to vote yes on language reading, "nothing in this constitution shall be construed to secure or protect a right to abortion or require the funding of abortion."