boulderrr
Well-Known Member
US elections: States vote on abortion, marijuana and gay marriage | World news | guardian.co.uk
As the world focused on the presidential election, voters in a number of US states decided questions on a hot-button social and cultural issues.
Voters in Colorado and South Dakota defeated ballot measures aimed at restricting abortion, while Massachusetts and Michigan approved measures to slacken marijuana laws. In Washington state, voters approved a law allowing physician-assisted suicide.
In South Dakota, voters rejected a ballot proposition that would have outlawed abortion except in cases of rape, incest and serious health threat to the mother. Had it passed, the law would likely have provoked a constitutional challenge, setting up an fight in the US supreme court over a woman's right to choose abortion.
In 2006 South Dakotans rejected a stricter abortion ban that did not include the exceptions for rape and incest.
Colorado also has an abortion-related question on the ballot. Voters today decide on a constitutional amendment that would define human life as beginning at conception. It doesn't mention abortion, but would force legislators and courts to confront which legal rights to extend to foetuses and whether the amendment effectively bans abortion. Recent polling projected a wide defeat for the proposal.
Michigan became the 13th state to legalise marijuana for medical use, while Massachusetts decriminalised possession of one ounce or less of the substance, making the offence punishable with a citation and a $100 fine.
"Tonight's results represent a sea change," said Rob Kampia, executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project, which backed the Massachusetts and Michigan ballot proposals. "Voters have spectacularly rejected eight years of the most intense government war on marijuana since the days of 'Reefer Madness.'"
In Arkansas, voters approved a measure on the ballot to bar unmarried couples from adopting or taking in foster children. The referendum is intended as a constitutionally permissible way to prevent gays from adopting, supporters say.
Meanwhile, Californians today voted on a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. Late polls showed a tight race. The state supreme court in May forced the state to allow gays to marry, but Christian conservatives launched a successful campaign to put a proposed constitutional amendment on the ballot. The state allows gay civil unions, but social conservatives worry that gay marriage in California will set a trend that will spread nationwide.
As the world focused on the presidential election, voters in a number of US states decided questions on a hot-button social and cultural issues.
Voters in Colorado and South Dakota defeated ballot measures aimed at restricting abortion, while Massachusetts and Michigan approved measures to slacken marijuana laws. In Washington state, voters approved a law allowing physician-assisted suicide.
In South Dakota, voters rejected a ballot proposition that would have outlawed abortion except in cases of rape, incest and serious health threat to the mother. Had it passed, the law would likely have provoked a constitutional challenge, setting up an fight in the US supreme court over a woman's right to choose abortion.
In 2006 South Dakotans rejected a stricter abortion ban that did not include the exceptions for rape and incest.
Colorado also has an abortion-related question on the ballot. Voters today decide on a constitutional amendment that would define human life as beginning at conception. It doesn't mention abortion, but would force legislators and courts to confront which legal rights to extend to foetuses and whether the amendment effectively bans abortion. Recent polling projected a wide defeat for the proposal.
Michigan became the 13th state to legalise marijuana for medical use, while Massachusetts decriminalised possession of one ounce or less of the substance, making the offence punishable with a citation and a $100 fine.
"Tonight's results represent a sea change," said Rob Kampia, executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project, which backed the Massachusetts and Michigan ballot proposals. "Voters have spectacularly rejected eight years of the most intense government war on marijuana since the days of 'Reefer Madness.'"
In Arkansas, voters approved a measure on the ballot to bar unmarried couples from adopting or taking in foster children. The referendum is intended as a constitutionally permissible way to prevent gays from adopting, supporters say.
Meanwhile, Californians today voted on a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. Late polls showed a tight race. The state supreme court in May forced the state to allow gays to marry, but Christian conservatives launched a successful campaign to put a proposed constitutional amendment on the ballot. The state allows gay civil unions, but social conservatives worry that gay marriage in California will set a trend that will spread nationwide.
