SOME of America’s most divisive social issues — gay marriage, abortion and affirmative action — went before voters yesterday as 36 states passed judgment on ballot measures as well as candidates.

The US Supreme Court steered clear of a major ruling on abortion today, instead giving the northeastern state of New Hampshire a chance to save its parental notification law.

THE US Supreme Court, in an abortion case of relatively narrow scope, cleared the way yesterday for a Missouri prison inmate to terminate her pregnancy.