Nevadans will vote in November on whether to protect abortion rights in the state. Abortion rights groups are trying to continue their winning streak with measures that would put the issue directly to voters.
Nevada’s secretary of state on Friday approved the ballot initiative to amend the state constitution to include an explicit right to abortion after the required signatures were verified. The group behind the measure, Nevadans for Reproductive Freedom, submitted 200,000 signatures in May, nearly 100,000 more than needed. The Secretary of State told the group that they had verified just under 128,000 signatures.
Since the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs ruling in 2022, which overturned Roe v. Wade and struck down the constitutional right to abortion, 18 Republican-controlled states have banned the procedure under almost all circumstances or banned it after six weeks, before many women know they do that. pregnant. At least a dozen states, most led by Democrats, have introduced new abortion protections since the decision.
The ruling has sparked a movement among abortion rights advocates to enshrine the right to the procedure in state constitutions through ballot measures. They managed to get them on the ballot in at least five other states this year: Florida, Colorado, New York, Maryland and South Dakota. Similar initiatives are also underway in states such as Arizona, Arkansas And Nebraska – all of which face signature submission deadlines this week – and in November, Voters in a whopping 11 states were given the chance to have their say.
In Nevada, abortion is legal through 24 weeks of pregnancy. But organizers of the ballot initiative are seeking to amend the state constitution to protect abortion up to the point at which the fetus is viable — also around 24 weeks — because it is harder to amend the constitution than to repeal the state law.
“We can’t take anything for granted,” said Lindsey Harmon, president of Nevadans for Reproductive Freedom. “We know that Nevada has always been overwhelmingly pro-choice, and there is no reason why it shouldn’t be in the Constitution.”
Like the abortion rights amendments passed in Ohio and Michigan, the Nevada measure would allow the state to restrict abortions after viability except when an abortion is necessary in the “good faith” judgment of the attending physician to “protect the life or physical or mental health of the pregnant patient.”
After decades of motivating Republican voters, abortion has become a winning issue for Democrats since the fall of Roe, who hope this year’s ballot measures will boost voter turnout on Election Day and boost their chances across the aisle. In addition to key swing states like Arizona and Florida, Democrats also hope the measure in Montana — which has yet to be certified but has already collected signatures well above the threshold — will help Sen. Jon Tester in his competitive re-election bid.
Polls show that a majority of people in most states say abortion should be legal in all or most cases. Voters in seven states have already considered ballot measures related to abortion, and in every case — from states as politically different as California and Kansas — they have sided with abortion rights groups.
Krystal Minera-Alvis, communications director for the anti-abortion group Nevada Right to Life, acknowledged the anti-abortion movement’s losses in these ballot initiatives.
“Right now we’re kind of 0 to 7,” she said. “We’re not doing great.”
Support for abortion is especially strong in Nevada, another battleground state. According to the Public Religion Research Institute, 76 percent of residents support abortion rights, and according to a recent poll by Emerson College, 58 percent of Nevadans said they would vote yes on the ballot. For the constitutional amendment to take effect, voters would have to approve it both in November and in 2026.
Ms. Minerva-Alvis said her group’s primary goal is to spread the word about Nevada’s existing law, which also allows abortions after 24 weeks if a doctor deems it necessary to protect the life or health of the pregnant patient . “If the average Nevadan found out what the law already is, what has already been legalized, they wouldn’t vote for it.”
Among the races in Nevada is one for a Senate seat, featuring incumbent Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen leading her Republican opponent, Sam Brown. Ms. Rosen has expressed support for the abortion measure, saying it will ensure “every Nevadan can make their own health care decisions, free from government interference.”
Mr. Brown, an Army veteran who has been endorsed by Mr. Trump, has tried to position himself as a moderate on abortion. He has said he will not seek to change Nevada’s abortion law or support a national abortion ban.
But Ms Minera-Alvis said she and others in her movement want him to become more assertive and “have more of a pro-life voice” by advocating for lower gestational ages in the future.
Kate Zernike contributed to the reporting.
