Abortion Wins in Three States, Girls' Sports Protections Sweep: What the 2026 Ballot Measures Tell the Church

Image: original AI illustration created for Doctrine Matters. It is not an actual photo of the people or event in this story.

The 2026 midterms put life and biology directly on the ballot, and the results were mixed. As reported by Baptist Press, voters in only one of four states with abortion measures chose to protect unborn life, while measures protecting girls' sports appeared headed for passage in all four states where they were on the ballot.

Idaho was the lone pro-life win. According to Baptist Press, 56 percent of Idaho voters rejected the Reproductive Freedom and Privacy Act, which would have legalized abortion up to fetal viability. Southern Baptist leaders had urged voters to reject it.

Elsewhere the news was grim. Missouri voters rejected Amendment 3, which would have outlawed abortion and banned gender transition procedures for minors, leaving abortion legal under the amendment voters passed in 2024. Virginia approved a constitutional amendment protecting abortion by roughly 62 to 38 percent, and Nevada approved a constitutional right to abortion until viability with about 63 percent of the vote.

On girls' sports, Nebraska passed its measure with 68 percent and Arizona with about 59 percent. Similar measures in Colorado and Washington state were leading as votes were still being counted. Baptist Press also reported that a Colorado ban on sex change surgeries for minors was narrowly ahead, while Wisconsin voters rejected, 52 to 48 percent, a measure that would have limited the government's power to close churches in emergencies and protected minors from sex change operations.

A Bible Believing Response

Here is the strange picture these results paint. Many Americans can still see that a boy is not a girl, but they cannot see that the baby in the womb is a baby. Common sense about biology is holding on, while the conscience about life is fading.

The Bible is clear on both. "So God created man in his own image... male and female created he them" (Genesis 1:27). And the child in the womb is a person God is forming: "thou hast covered me in my mother's womb" (Psalm 139:13), and "Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee" (Jeremiah 1:5). God commands, "Thou shalt not kill" (Exodus 20:13), and He hates "hands that shed innocent blood" (Proverbs 6:17).

We should rejoice over Idaho, Nebraska, and Arizona. But we should also be honest. Three states just wrote abortion into their constitutions by popular vote, and Wisconsin turned down protection for churches. Laws matter, but laws follow hearts. "Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people" (Proverbs 14:34).

That means the real work isn't finished on election night. Preach the gospel. Support crisis pregnancy ministries. Teach your children what God says about life and about male and female. "Open thy mouth for the dumb in the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction" (Proverbs 31:8).

Source: Baptist Press.

Recommended Reading

Want to go deeper? Get my book Doctrine Matters: Bible Topic Guidebook on Amazon.