2026 Elections: Wins for reproductive rights and the environment

During these tumultuous times, the 2026 midterm election results brought a much-needed ray of hope, with some encouraging victories for two areas that are core to our organization’s mission: reproductive rights and the environment.

The Blue Wave

After two years of the Trump administration’s relentless attacks on contraceptive and abortion access and sweeping rollbacks of environmental policies, the November 3 elections brought encouraging potential for much-needed change.

In a historic victory, Democrats took control of both the Senate and the House of Representatives, as well as of several state governments. This means a new pro-reproductive rights majority in Congress and a much better chance of advancing policies to protect the environment and fight climate change.

What does the election outcome mean for international family planning?

The second Trump administration dissolved the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and blocked billions in appropriated foreign aid, including all funding for international family planning programs.

Congress appropriated $607.5 million in US assistance for global family planning and reproductive health in 2024, the last year appropriations were fully disbursed. Appropriations amounts were the same for 2025 and 2026 but without USAID, the funding went largely unspent. According to the Guttmacher Institute, every year that these funds are withheld causes an additional 17.1 million unintended pregnancies and 34,000 preventable maternal deaths.

These cuts (and funding diversions) were conducted without the approval of Congress, which doesn’t provide much hope for a midterm-driven turnaround. Nevertheless, with more Democrats in Congress, there should be more investigation of whether the administration’s decisions were lawful and more oversight to keep officials in check. Additionally, they can aggressively press the administration to spend appropriated money in the way that Congress demands.

State-level abortion rights victories (and one disappointment)

After the US Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion in 2022, more than a dozen states instated total abortion bans, while many others imposed strict gestational limits. Reproductive rights advocates have since passed ballot measures to protect abortion rights in more than a fifth of states.

Abortion rights were on the ballot in four states in Tuesday’s election, which brought victories for three of them; Virginia, Missouri, and Nevada.

In Virginia, voters approved an amendment that enshrines reproductive freedom in the state constitution, ensuring that abortions can occur during the first several months of pregnancy. The amendment also allows the state government to create a right to contraception and pass laws allowing abortion care in the third trimester if it is deemed medically necessary.

Missourians defeated a proposed amendment to the state constitution to reimpose restrictions on most abortions, with exceptions only for medical emergencies and fetal anomalies, or in cases of rape or incest up to 12 weeks of pregnancy. This amendment would have undone a 2024 win, when Missouri became the first state to reverse an existing abortion ban with a ballot initiative.

Nevada also voted in favor of an amendment that creates a fundamental right to abortion until “fetal viability” (generally considered to be after 21–24 weeks of pregnancy) and preserves access to abortion care after that point to protect the life of the pregnant person. The amendment had already won initial voter approval in 2024 but needed a second vote this year to take effect.

It’s not all good news, unfortunately. Idaho, which has one of the country’s most draconian abortion bans, rejected an effort to expand abortion rights. The measure would have established “a right to reproductive freedom and privacy,” allowing abortion until “fetal viability.”

Climate and environment victories

Flipping control of Congress will also make it harder for Trump to roll back federal climate policy and environmental protections.

The Trump administration has launched countless assaults on the environment since the start of his second term, including ending funding for clean energy, eliminating pollution restrictions for industry and motor vehicles, stripping protections from federal lands and endangered species, and gutting and censoring federal environmental agencies and research labs.

A flipped Congress could force administration officials to testify before Congress. It could also impeach Trump administration members over unlawful funding clawbacks and staff reductions. Democrats will also have control over major funding bills, forcing Trump to negotiate with them to avoid a government shutdown.

Hopefully this could lead to the restoration of some environmental programs, more support for renewable energy, more scrutiny for new oil and gas drilling projects and fossil fuel subsidies, and stronger enforcement of environmental standards and protections.

The President has the power to veto any legislation passed by Congress, however, and a presidential veto can only be overruled with the support of two-thirds of both chambers.

Many states have had seats flipped blue (including Senate seats in Texas, Kansas, Iowa, Ohio, Maine, North Carolina, and South Carolina), which could lead to a renewed push for state-level environmental policies.

Several state-level ballot measures turned out well for the environment.

Coloradans voted no on a rightwing amendment that would have created a constitutional right to produce and use natural gas.

Rhode Island voters passed a measure to establish a bond to restore and protect watersheds, while Massachusetts elected to set up a fund for natural resource conservation projects.

In Michigan, voters approved a proposal that prohibits some electric and gas utilities, as well as utility-funded political action committees (PACs), from making campaign contributions.

Anti-data center sentiment played a big role in this election, with dozens of towns and cities across the country passing pauses or bans on data center development.

Bluer skies ahead

The real winners in this election may well be people all around the world lacking access to family planning and reproductive health care.