In the wake of Donald Trump’s confirmed win in the U.S. presidential election, defeating Kamala Harris with the Republican Party, Google searches for the term “abortion” spiked significantly.
Publicly available data from Google reveals a sharp rise in search interest. Searches for “abortion” surged by 80% around 9:00 PM on election night, as Trump’s victory became more apparent. By 8:00 AM the following day, the search volume had skyrocketed by 100%.
This issue was one of the most polarizing topics throughout the election campaign, highlighting the stark contrast between Democratic candidate Kamala Harris’s stance and that of Republican candidate Donald Trump.
Will U.S. Abortion Laws change after the election?
During the final presidential debate, Harris vowed to restore protections under Roe v. Wade if elected President. “It’s an insult to women across the country that their right to choose has been stripped away,” she declared.
Trump, on the other hand, defended the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the 1973 ruling. Trump supports this right in cases of rape and incest but believes individual states—not the federal government—should regulate the issue.
Beyond the face-off between these two leaders, measures related to this issue appeared on at least six statewide ballots, giving voters the opportunity to weigh in on protecting or limiting abortion rights.
Florida and two other states reject this right during elections
On Tuesday, voters approved most state ballot initiatives to expand abortion rights. However, Florida, Nebraska and South Dakota rejected these measures.
In Florida, a proposed constitutional amendment to guarantee the right to abortion fell short of the 60% vote threshold needed for approval, according to Edison Research projections.
In Nebraska, voters faced two opposing measures. One entrenched the state’s current 12-week abortion ban—with exceptions for rape, incest, and life-threatening pregnancies—while the other, which sought to enshrine women’s access to this right in the state constitution, was rejected, according to the Associated Press (AP).
Meanwhile, South Dakota voters rejected a proposed amendment that would have enshrined the right to abortion in the state constitution, where it is currently banned with limited exceptions.
Democrats blame the Republican Party, led by former President Trump, for the wave of restrictive abortion laws. Over a dozen states have implemented near-total abortion bans following the Supreme Court’s decision, which was driven by a conservative majority appointed largely by Trump.
Trump, a Florida resident, had previously indicated he would vote against the state’s ballot measure, after initially suggesting he might support it.
