Nevada Senate approves abortion protections in constitution

CARSON CITY — An amendment to the Nevada Constitution guaranteeing abortion rights in the state is one step closer to coming before voters after the state Senate voted to advance a joint resolution Monday.

Senators voted 13-8 on party lines to send Senate Joint Resolution 7 to the Assembly, but not before a contentious floor debate.

“Politicians should not be interfering in personal decisions between patients and their doctors when it comes to reproductive health care,” Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro, D-Las Vegas, said. “The ability to continue to access reproductive care should be a fundamental right.”

The measure would guarantee a right to an abortion, would authorize the state to regulate abortion care after “fetal viability” and would prevent the state from prosecuting an individual or entity for exercising their right to reproductive freedom or helping another person exercise that right.

The measure would also protect prenatal care, child birth, postpartum care, birth control, vasectomies and miscarriages, among other reproductive health care options.

If the resolution passes in the Assembly, it would need to be approved again during the 2025 legislative session before being placed on the ballot for the voters’ approval at the general election in 2026.

“I will probably be on the other side of the ballot box but as a leader in my district, I believe that they should have the right to fight for their beliefs,” said Sen. Dina Neal, D-North Las Vegas. “I expect that the day that this is on the ballot that we will have to come to a reckoning in Nevada about what exactly that we can stand for and what we believe.”

But the measure drew opposition from several Republican senators, including Senate Minority Leader Heidi Seevers Gansert, R-Reno.

“The language is extremely broad, and should be rejected by this body, and we would expect to be rejected by the voters as well,” Seevers Gansert said.

Sen. Ira Hansen, R-Sparks, opposed the measure, too.

“I’m exceptionally worried that the people that are most impacted, the unborn children, have no say in this matter,” Hansen said. “To put this in the constitution means that if in the future, a legislative body does — with advances and everything else — want to modify some of this stuff, we put handcuffs on them.”

Abortion is protected in Nevada by a state law affirmed by voters in 1990 which can only be repealed by another voter referendum. The measure comes after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June and gave individuals states power to regulate abortion.

An earlier version of this story misstated the party of Senate Minority Leader Heidi Seevers Gansert. Seevers Gansert is a Republican.

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