There aren’t very many states left in the country that will allow Medicaid to cover abortions for poor women, but an attempt to strike Oregon from the list has failed.

Via The Oregonian:

[Ballot sponsor Jeff] Jimerson said in an email to supporters on Wednesday night:

We’ve tallied up signatures that have come in this week and it looks like we’re not going to make it this year. With just two days left to deliver signed petitions to the Secretary of State, we’ve got only about 70,000 signatures in hand — less than half of our 150,000 signature goal.

According to the site, Jimerson received no support from Oregon Right to Life, the state’s largest anti-choice organization, who said that they were focusing on legislative issues instead. 

The admission is an interesting one, since it supports the argument that anti-choice ballot initiatives like state funding bans or the more popular “personhood” amendments are less about trying to pass the amendment, and more about encouraging the right type of voter to come out and vote on election day.  As Colorado showed in 2010, an unpopular anti-choice amendment can actually rally the other side to show up to defeat the measure, which allowed the state to avoid the Republican wave that swept so many other races that year.