Albuquerque Rejects 20-Week Abortion Ban Earlier in 2013, the House proposed a ban on abortion after 20 weeks, and twelve states have gone ahead and enacted such bans. But when Americans are asked if legislators should be spending their time restricting the abortion window, most respondents say no. And the more Americans hear about what a 20-week bans really entail, the more they grow wary of them. So maybe it's not shocking that voters in Albuquerque on Tuesday rejected a 20-week ballot measure. The Times reported that the referendum was "the first of its kind in the country for a municipality" and was "marked by record turnout." The ban went down 55-45. When voters are asked to weigh in on reproductive rights issues directly, the results often go counter to the restrictive trend at the legislative level. Voters in Colorado have twice rejected "personhood" amendments declaring that life begins at conception. A personhood amendment also failed, 58-41, in what's arguably the most conservative state in the union: Mississippi.