By Christine Fernando and Geoff Mulvihill, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) – Abortion rights advocates have prevailed seven ballot measures through the US in Tuesday’s election and lost three.

The losses are the first on state reproductive rights ballot measures anywhere in the US since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, a ruling that overturned nearly 50 years of abortion rights nationwide, proving that abortion opponents can win through ballot measures.

There were firsts on the other side as well: three amendments call for the repeal of abortion bans, including one in Missouri which prohibits it at all stages of pregnancy, with exceptions only in limited circumstances to save the woman’s life.

Here’s a look at the findings of the results.

Abortion is heading to court in an attempt to overturn Missouri’s ban

Missouri it is the most populous state where a ballot measure could overturn the current ban on abortions at all stages of pregnancy.

But the work is not done there.

Planned Parenthood affiliates operating in Missouri filed in state court Wednesday to invalidate the state’s abortion ban and several laws governing care.

The Missouri amendment, set to take effect Dec. 5, does not specifically repeal any state law. Instead, the measure left it up to lawyers to ask the courts to strike down bans they now consider unconstitutional.

Planned Parenthood leaders said Wednesday in a Zoom call with reporters that they want to begin offering abortions at clinics in Columbia, Kansas City and St. Louis if they get the court ruling they’re seeking — starting with blocking enforcement of the laws on the book.

“This is only the first step toward achieving and fully implementing the protections of Amendment 3. It is certainly not the last step,” said Richard Muniz, interim president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Rivers.

The clinics stopped providing abortions in Missouri just before the state’s ban took effect in 2022. They said a laundry list of regulations made it impossible for them to operate. In its legal filing, the statewide Planned Parenthood affiliate says the onerous requirements include that doctors who provide abortions have surgical licenses and that they perform pelvic exams on all patients — even if they only provide medication abortions.

“Some of these patients choose medication abortion precisely because they don’t want instruments inserted into their vagina,” Dr. Selina Sandoval, associate medical director for Planned Parenthood Great Plains, said in a legal filing. “I cannot and will not subject my patients to unnecessary examinations.”

Planned Parenthood also opposes laws requiring clinicians to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals, imposing a 72-hour waiting period for abortions and banning telemedicine for abortion. In addition to banning abortion at all stages of pregnancy, the group is calling for other bans that come into effect after 8, 14, 18 and 20 weeks of pregnancy to be removed.

Abortion rights are popular with voters

Abortion rights advocates announced victories at the ballot box as a signal of widespread support for abortion rights, even in conservative states.

The three states where the abortion measures were defeated had special circumstances that were not present in the others.

In Floridathe threshold for passing a constitutional amendment is 60%, while most states require a simple majority. A majority of voters supported adding abortion rights — but it fell short.

There, Governor Ron DeSantisa Republican with a national profile, also presented a challenge to supporters through the direction GOP state funds to counter the measure and defend a state agency for publishing a web page attacking it, among other government efforts.

In South Dakotathe measure is different from the others because it would have allowed the state to regulate second-trimester abortion — but only in ways that protect a woman’s health. Because of this provision, most national abortion rights groups have not invested money in promoting it, which may have been a factor in its failure in a conservative state.

In Nebraskaboth sides had questions on the ballot. Voters passed the one that bans abortion after the first 12 weeks of pregnancy — which is in line with current state law — and also allows for the possibility of stricter bans. They also rejected the measure that would have enshrined in the state constitution the right to abortion until viability, which is considered to be sometime after 21 weeks of pregnancy, although there is no fixed time.

Abortion rights advocates have condemned anti-abortion groups’ new strategy of putting a competing measure on the ballot as a trying to confuse voters. The approach has been taken up by anti-abortion groups elsewhere.

Trump’s return to the White House could also shape abortion policy

Republican Donald Trump regained the presidencyin spite of him constantly changing positions on reproductive rights.

If Republicans win the House, in addition to their victories in the Senate and the White House, could open the door to passage of a national ban.

trump card he said he would oppose a national ban notwithstanding refusing to answer questions about.

But Republicans have been accused of trying to recast federal abortion restrictions as “minimum national standards” to misrepresent their own positions on the issue, given the political unpopularity of the GOP position on abortion.

Judicial appointments have already shaped the national abortion landscape. Trump has repeatedly taken credit for appointing three justices to the U.S. Supreme Court who helped form the majority that overturned Roe v. Wade. It’s not just the Supreme Court. US District nominated by Trump Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk issued rulings with national consequences, including one with impact access to the abortion pill mifepristone.

Through executive power, a president could also restrict the abortion pills sent by post and declare that a law requiring physicians to stabilize emergency room patients don’t ask them to provide abortion. A new administration could also withdraw a federal process which challenges aspects of Idaho’s ban.

The results show that voters are willing to split the ticket on abortion issues

One interpretation of the presence of some of the ballot measures was that they were passed in part to boost Democratic voter turnout in candidate elections.

If that was the plan — and some abortion-rights advocates say it wasn’t — it didn’t seem to sway other statewide races.