LOS ANGELES — The national movement to close a so-called slavery loophole in state constitutions was riding a wave of momentum after voters in eight states — including deep-red Alabama and Tennessee — removed exceptions to post-Civil War bans on slavery and involuntary servitude.

But the movement was handed an unexpected defeat this year in progressive California, where the failure of a ballot measure explicitly packaged as a ban on forced prison labor has left activists nationwide grappling with how best to draft such constitutional amendments in the up to 14 states where they could appear on ballots in 2026.

The movement’s lawyers want detailed language delineating what constitutes involuntary servitude so courts can be compelled to defend prisoners’ rights against forced labor. At the same time, campaigners confronting voters breaking right on questions of criminal justice want to see simply worded anti-slavery provisions free of specifics about what they mean for the incarcerated people who stand to benefit.

“That’s been a big part of our fight, making sure the language is correct,” said Dennis Febo, the New Jersey-based lead organizer for the Abolish Slavery National Network. “The more we’ve done on this question, the more we understand how complicated it is.”

The self-described abolitionist movement was able to notch its earliest victories against scant organized opposition. But as it now works through its internal tensions it also faces potential external threats — from a prison industry that sees these amendments as a threat to the way it operates, and a changing political mood that leaves Republicans less willing to back them.

The new abolitionists emerge

Jumoke Emery’s path to rethinking the 13th Amendment that abolished slavery started in a Colorado jail cell. It was 2014, and the then-27-year-old community organizer had just returned home from participating in the protests in Ferguson, Missouri, that birthed the Black Lives Matter movement. A week later, a police officer showed up at his Denver office with an arrest warrant, on circumstances Emery hypothesized were connected to his activism.

“None of it made any sense,” Emery said. “I had been handcuffed, wrist to wrist, ankle to ankle, up against the wall. I sat there for hours in the middle of my workday and the only thing I could think of was, ‘This is what it must have felt like to be a slave.’”

Upon his release a few days later, Emery learned the arrest had been triggered by a years-old “failure to appear” warrant issued when he did not produce proof of insurance upon being pulled over for a burnt-out headlight. He said he was told the original charges had been already dismissed, but remained in the system due to a misspelling of his name; Emery said he did not end up paying a fine. (The Denver Police Department confirmed that Emery had been arrested for an outstanding warrant but would not comment on details of the case.)