Family · Statewide · MT · October 14, 2026
2026 State Supreme Court Races Could Decide Abortion, Trans-Care Rules Nationwide
A commentary distributed by Ohio Capital Journal, written by a University of Texas law professor who studies reproductive health, reports that 31 states are holding state supreme court elections in 2026 for more than 60 open seats. The piece argues these races carry outsized weight because, since the 2022 Dobbs decision and the 2025 Skrmetti ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court has pushed abortion and transgender-medical-care disputes to state courts, which now often have final say. The article cites specific examples: Montana's court ruled in 2023 that its constitution protects abortion access; North Carolina's near-conservative-supermajority court has a Democrat incumbent, Anita Earls, facing reelection; Michigan's Democrat-backed 6-1 majority defends an enshrined abortion-rights amendment; and judges who upheld abortion restrictions face voters in Alabama, Arizona, Florida, North Dakota, Oklahoma and Texas. Idaho's court approved rewritten ballot-initiative language on its abortion ban, and Indiana's court heard arguments on a religious-exemption challenge to its ban. Notably, the text supplied does not specify an Ohio race despite the headline, though Ohio also has supreme court seats on the 2026 ballot.
Source: Ohio Capital Journal
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Why Bible-Believing Christians Should Care
These judicial elections, many nonpartisan and low-visibility, will determine whether unborn children retain legal protection in dozens of states and how far courts will go in sanctioning transgender medical intervention on minors. Christians who believe Scripture establishes the sanctity of human life from conception should recognize that a single state supreme court seat can override or entrench abortion access regardless of what legislatures or voters intended. The quiet nature of these races — often overshadowed by federal midterms — makes them a strategic target for groups seeking to lock in permissive abortion and gender-ideology rulings through the judiciary rather than the ballot box. Believers should treat judicial elections with the same seriousness as legislative ones.
Open thy mouth for the dumb in the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction. — Proverbs 31:8
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From the book
Courts are the last line of defense for constitutional rights, and they can also be used affirmatively. Defensively, Christians have to support legal defense organizations that fight strategic cases to establish precedent, building a wall of case law that protects the rights of conscience. This is Counter-Rule 13 operating across institutions rather than individuals.
— Chapter 20, “Three Arenas, No Exit”
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