Voters in Colorado and South Dakota rejected ballot measures yesterday that could have led to sweeping bans of abortion, and Washington became only the second state - after Oregon - to offer terminally ill people the option of physician-assisted suicide.

In California, exit polls suggested a close race on a high-profile measure that would ban gay marriage - the first time such a vote has taken place in a state where such unions are legal. Three other states seemed headed toward enacting measures that would curtail the rights of same-sex couples.

For the abortion rights movement, it was a day of relief and celebration.

The Colorado measure, which was defeated soundly, would have defined life as beginning at conception. Its opponents said it could lead to the outlawing of some types of birth control as well as abortion. The South Dakota measure would have banned abortions except in cases of rape, incest and serious health threat to the mother.

Elsewhere, the marijuana reform movement won two prized victories, with Massachusetts voters decriminalizing possession of small amounts of the drug and Michigan joining 12 other states, including Hawaii, in allowing use of pot for medical purposes.

Of the 153 measures at stake nationwide, the most momentous was the proposed constitutional amendment in California that would limit marriage to heterosexual couples.

Similar measures had prevailed in 27 states before yesterday's elections, but none were in California's situation - with thousands of gay couples already married following a state Supreme Court ruling in May.

The opposing sides together raised about $70 million, much of it from out of state, to wage their campaigns. The outcome, either way, will have a huge impact on prospects for spreading same-sex marriage to the 47 states that do not allow it.

Gambling was on the ballot in several states. Arkansas voters approved a measure creating a statewide lottery, overturning a ban dating back to 1874.

In Ohio, voters once again rejected a proposal to open the state's first casino. They also approved a new payday lending law that cut the annual percentage rate that lenders can charge to 28 percent and limits the number of loans customers can take to four per year. Ohio's is now among the strictest laws in the country.