California Enshrines Abortion Until Birth, Rejects Sports Gambling

California voters overwhelmingly voted for a state constitutional amendment that will enshrine the right to abortion until birth, though voters turned down many other ballot measures, including two that would expand sports gambling in the Golden State.

As of Wednesday morning, nearly two-thirds of voters had backed Proposition 1, which expands current abortion law, which guarantees abortion until viability. The language of the proposition also included a right to contraception, easing its passage.

California was one of several Democrat-governed states to approve such a resolution Tuesday, including Vermont and Michigan.

However, overwhelming majorities of California voters rejected Proposition 26 to allow sports betting on tribal lands, as well as Proposition 27 to allow online sports betting outside tribal lands. Voters approved Proposition 28 to expand arts funding in public schools, as well as Proposition 31 to restrict the sale of some flavored tobacco products. They rejected Proposition 29 to further regulate kidney dialysis clinics — the third time it has failed — and rejected Proposition 30, a tax hike to pay for electric vehicles.

Governor Gavin Newsom (D), who won reelection easily, mandated the purchase of electric vehicles after 2035 but campaigned against Proposition 30, portraying it as an effort by ride-sharing companies to pass the cost of new electric fleets to the taxpayers.

No Republican candidates were doing well in statewide races, though several were holding up well in early counts of congressional races. California takes weeks to finalize results because of its heavy reliance on mail-in ballots, including the use of ballot harvesting.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.