RENO, Nevada — A ballot question seeking to enshrine Nevada’s abortion rights in the state constitution has met all the requirements to go before voters in November, the Nevada Secretary of State’s office announced Friday, and Democrats across the country are hoping similar measures will mobilize supporters on Election Day.
She have created abortion rights a central message since the US Supreme Court ruling Roe vs. Wadethe landmark 1973 court ruling that established a nationwide right to abortion. Nevada voters made abortion legal up to 24 weeks in 1990, but a state law is easier to pass and more vulnerable to change than organizers of constitutional protections seek.
County officials from across Nevada have approved the required number of signatures from Nevadans for Reproductive Freedom, the political action committee that organized the ballot initiative. The Nevada Secretary of State’s office certified those numbers, according to a memo sent to organizers Friday.
Several Republican-controlled states have tightened restrictions on abortion or imposed outright bans. Fourteen states ban abortions at all stages of pregnancy, while 25 allow abortions up to 25 years 24 weeks or later, with some limited exceptions.
Most states with Democratic legislatures have laws or executive orders protecting access. Voters in California, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Montana, Ohio and Vermont have joined abortion rights advocates on voting measures. Abortion rights advocates have introduced qualified ballot measures Colorado and South Dakotaand Nevada were among nine other states where signature drives were underway.
Nevadans for Reproductive Freedom Announced last month that they had submitted more than 200,000 signatures. Proponents needed 102,000 valid signatures by June 26 to qualify for the ballot, and just under 128,000 were considered valid.
The organization held a news conference Monday, two years after the Dobbs v. Jackson decision overturned the nation’s right to abortion, to promote the petition and unveil a letter signed by medical professionals in support.
“In a post-Dobbs world, we can no longer take anything for granted, which is why we are doubling down on the protections we currently have in law,” said Lindsey Harmon, the group’s president.
Anti-abortion group Nevada Right to Life spokesperson Krystal Minera-Alvis said in a statement that the proposed amendment is “based on lies” and funded with “dark money from out of state,” and described the ballot question as misleading, since abortion rights are already codified in state law.
“As an organization, we stand firm that this amendment is unsafe and dangerous for women of all ages,” Minera-Alvis said in the statement.
Separately, Republican organizers said they had submitted nearly 180,000 signatures to a value On the November ballot, the state constitution was amended to require voters to show a photo ID at the polls, said David Gibbs of the political action committee Repair the Vote. If counties verify just over 100,000 signatures, voters would have to approve the amendment in both 2024 and 2026 before it would take effect.