Ballot initiatives: abortion and gay rights

Catherine Philp in Los Angeles looks through the ballot initiatives put before the American people tonight, with measures on abortion rights and gay marriage at the forefront...

One of the most contentious votes in the country looks like being decided very soon: abortion rights activists are projected to win their battle to keep abortion legal in South Dakota. With 59 percent of the vote counted, the pro-choice campaign is leading the pro-lifers by 55 to 45 percent. The vote was scheduled after abortion rights activists gathered a petition to challenge the almost total ban on abortion passed in the state earlier this year and the campaign has been one of the bitterest and most emotive in the whole race.

Pro-lifers intended to use the ban as a challenge to Roe v Wade, the Supreme Court ruling that legalised abortion 33 years ago. But critics say they overplayed their hand by refusing to allow an exception for rape and incest, turning off many of even the most conservative religious voters. Expect the pro-life lobby to try again with another ban granting this exception, which polls indicate voters would accept. But the defeat of the ban will give pause to 12 other states who were watching the battle carefully as they considered their own abortion bans. The photograph on the right shows anti-abotion protesters in Texas.

But there was bad news for gay and lesbian Americans – same-sex marriage and civil unions are taking a pounding in votes across the country. Seven states – Arizona , Idaho, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia and Wisconsin -- have votes on banning gay marriage and any kind of legal partnerships to give equal rights to gays; Colorado's proposition bans gay marriage but allows legal "domestic partnerships."

Six of those states have either voted to ban gay marriage or are projected to do so, leaving just Arizona and Idaho in play. Putting gay marriage on the ballot was widely seen as a device to get out the conservative vote among disillusioned Republicans who might otherwise stay at home. Democrats concocted a counterploy to put a rise in the minimum wage on the ballot to counter the Republican turnout, a measure that is proving popular. Four of the six Midwestern states voting on that issue are projected to vote for a rise. Two more – Arizona and Nevada are still voting.