Critical Analysis

1. In an August 2022 Kansas referendum, voters decided whether their state would support abortion rights. According to the data from the map above, what percentage of Kansans voted for their state to support abortion rights.

2. According to the data from the beautiful map above, how many states have less than majority (over half) support of abortion rights?

3. If your state were to vote on abortion rights, according to the map above, what portion of your fellow citizens would have supported abortion rights?

4. Describe the parts of the country least favor abortion rights.

5. Based on the data from the map above, and the data about party affiliation from the beautiful map below, make a claim connecting political party to support for abortion rights.

6. Make a claim about whether referendums expand or limit democracy.

7. In what way is the process of amending the Constitution similar to a referendum process?

8. Make a claim about whether the U.S. should use more referendums to determine laws and policy.

9. According to the number crunching heroes and sheroes at the Pew Research Center, today, a 61% majority of U.S. adults say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, while 37% think abortion should be illegal in all or some cases. Some scholars claim that the power of the Supreme Court is determined by how closely it reflects popular opinion. On June 24, in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (2022), the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that the Constitution does not confer a right to abortion; overturning precedent set in Roe v. Wade (1973). If we had a national referendum (not that there is exactly such a thing) make a claim about what the result would be.

10. Make a claim about how the outcome of the Kansas referendum will impact the 2022 midterm elections?

Learning Extension

Read the upshot article about the Kansas abortion referendum.

Action Extension

Contact your state legislators and tell them to put a referendum on the ballot in your state.

Visual Extension