WASHINGTON (OSV News) — Election officials in Arizona and Missouri announced in August that ballot-proposed amendments that would enshrine abortion rights in their states’ constitutions qualified for their November ballots.

Meanwhile, Democrats were preparing for the national convention, while both Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump campaigned on economic issues.

Election officials in Arizona and Missouri approve abortion measures for November ballot

Since Dobbs, voters in Ohio, California, Kentucky, Michigan, Montana, Vermont and Kansas have either rejected new restrictions on abortion or expanded legal protections for it. Other states, including Colorado, Florida, Nevada and South Dakota, will consider similar votes in November.

Similar initiatives in Montana and Nebraska still need to be approved by their state election authorities, and voters in Maryland and New York will consider adding abortion-related protections to their state constitutions.

The Catholic conferences of Missouri and Arizona, as well as other Catholic conferences in other states, opposed these measures.

Montana, Arizona and Nevada are also seeing high-profile elections for Senate seats. In these states, votes on abortion are likely to lead to higher voter turnout.

Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, faces questions he has not yet answered about how he plans to vote on abortion in Florida, the state where he is registered to vote. Trump announced his position in April that abortion legislation should be left to the states and attacked critics of that position on social media, including Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America.

The Arizona Supreme Court sided with Republican lawmakers in its August 14 ruling and allowed the use of the term “unborn human” in reference to the measure in an informational brochure for Arizona voters.

Democrats prepare for the DNC in Chicago

The Democratic National Convention will take place from August 19 to 22 at the United Center in Chicago.

Originally planned to nominate President Joe Biden for re-election, the convention will instead mark his transition to Harris after he announced in July that he would withdraw his candidacy for re-election in 2024 and support his running mate for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination.

Harris, who secured the party’s nomination in a virtual vote before the convention, will be officially nominated there. Her running mate, Governor Tim Walz (Democratic, Minnesota), will support her.

In the run-up to the event, both Trump and Harris made economic issues a priority in their election campaigns.

In a speech on August 14 in Asheville, North Carolina, Trump promised “rapid approvals for new energy infrastructure” and a reduction in energy costs, while calling Harris “crazy.”

On August 16, Harris delivered a speech in Raleigh, North Carolina, about her economic platform. She said she wants to lower the cost of living by cracking down on food price gouging, building more affordable housing and providing down payment assistance to first-time home buyers.

Kate Scanlon is a national reporter for OSV News covering Washington. Follow her on X (formerly Twitter) @kgscanlon.