Efforts underway to put ‘culture wars’ issues on ballots in at least seven states
Missouri voters face abortion issue again along with ban on trans surgery for minors
The season for getting ballot measures before voters in the 2026 elections is barely underway, but so far voters in at least one and mayby a half-dozen states will face decisions this year on “culture wars” issues of strong interest to religious conservatives.
Definitely on the ballot is Missouri Amendment 3, the Prohibit Abortion and Gender Transition Procedures for Minors Amendment, which would reverse a decision made by voters in 2024 about abortion and also add a new constitutional provision outlawing gender transition surgeries for minors.
Possibly to be on the ballot in Washington state are two separate initiatives related to parental rights and transgender athletes. Initiative Measure IL26-001 would reverse changes that Legislature made in 2025 to change the state’s parental rights law; according to the initiative’s supporters, the legislative changes weakened the law. Initiative Measure IL26-638 is designed to prevent transgender girls from playing on public-school girls’ athletic teams.
Signatures for the two initiatives were submitted to election administrators in late December and await being counted. If sufficient signatures were received, the initiatives would go the the Legislature for consideration; if the Democratic Legislature rejects them, which appears likely, the issues would head to voters.
Efforts to put similar measures on 2026 ballots in other states are also underway, as listed below.
Missouri
Missouri’s proposed Amendment 3 was placed on the ballot by the state Legislature last spring by overwhelming votes, 103-51 in the state House and 22-11 in the state Senate.
Amendment 3 comes as a followup to a constitutional amendment approved by the state’s voters in 2024 that provided the “fundamental right to reproductive freedom,” including abortion. Abortion in the state is currently legal as long as the fetus hasn’t attained viability.
The new amendment would repeal the amendment passed in 2024 and would empower the Legislature to enact strict limits on abortion. It would also prohibit the use of public funds for abortion “except in cases of medical emergency, rape, or incest.”
Amendment 3 also provides as follows: “No gender transition surgeries shall be knowingly performed on children under eighteen years of age, and no cross-sex hormones or puberty-blocking drugs shall be knowingly prescribed or administered for the purpose of gender transition to children under eighteen years of age.”
Other initiatives that could be on the ballot in Missouri include one to prohibit discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation. Another would repeal the existing ban on same-sex marriages, a ban that has become obsolete and unenforceable.
Washington state
The two initiative measures, on parental rights and and transgender students in school sports, were developed by the conservative organization Let’s Go Washington. Each measure needs 386,000 valid signatures for advance; the parent rights initiative received 416,201 signatures, and the transgender proposal received 445,187. Organizers of initiatives typically gather more signatures than needed to allow for invalid signatures. The Washington Legislature is dominated by Democrats in both houses, so it appears likely that lawmakers would not be receptive to the measures; their rejection would clear them for the November ballot.
Colorado
Conservatives in Colorado have launched efforts on two measures related to transgender persons. One would close girls’ sports team to biological males, and the other would prohibit surgeries on “a minor for the purpose of altering biological sex characteristics.”
Maine
Signatures are due early in February for a measure that close Maine’s public-school girls’ sports teams to students were designated as male on their original birth certificates.
Ohio
Signatures are due July 1 on an Ohio initiative that would prevent state and local governments from discriminating “on account of race, color, creed or religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression regardless of sex assigned at birth, pregnancy status, genetic information, disease status, age, disability, recovery status, familial status, ancestry, national origin, or military and veteran status.”
Supporters of same-sex marriage also are seeking signatures on a measure that would repeal the state constitution’s ban on same-sex measure. The ban is currently unenforceable, but same-sex marriage advocates are concerned that court or legislative decisions might change that.
Oregon
Signatures are also due in early July on an Oregon initiative that would expand civil rights protections on the basis of pregnancy, pregnancy outcomes, health decisions, gender identity, sexual orientation and marital status. The initiative would also repeat the state’s obsolete ban on same-sex marriage.
Virginia
A proposal to eliminate Virginia’s obsolete ban on same-sex marriage is being considered for placement on the ballot.