Lombardo gets abortion protections bill

CARSON CITY — A bill codifying protections for out-of-state abortion patients is headed to Gov. Joe Lombardo’s desk after the Assembly voted along party lines to pass the legislation Monday.

Lawmakers voted 27-14 to approve Senate Bill 131, a bill sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro, D-Las Vegas, that would bar any Nevada agency from cooperating with authorities from anti-abortion states who are seeking to prosecute women for traveling to Nevada to get an abortion.

The bill would codify an executive order issued by Gov. Steve Sisolak just days after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June and gave individual states the power to regulate abortion.

The legislation, which was approved by the Senate in mid-April, would also protect health care professionals from being disciplined by medical boards for performing abortions.

Elizabeth Ray, a spokesperson for Gov. Joe Lombardo, said the governor will review the legislation when it makes it to his desk.

“Governor Lombardo encouraged the Legislature to send a clean bill codifying the previous executive order to his desk, and he will review the proposed legislation upon arrival,” Ray said in a statement.

While on the campaign trail, the former Clark County sheriff first vowed to repeal the order, but later backtracked, saying he would have to “evaluate it.”

He later committed to not repealing the order, a change that came after Alabama’s attorney general announced people who assist with out-of-state abortions could be prosecuted under that state’s laws, according to a campaign spokesperson.

“I hope a bill like that is sent to my desk, so that we can make clear that we are never going to prosecute women for having an abortion in Nevada,” Lombardo said in a Reno Gazette Journal voter guide published in mid-October.

Contact Taylor R. Avery at TAvery@reviewjournal.com. Follow @travery98 on Twitter.