Nevada Officials Verify Enough Signatures for Abortion Measure to Appear on Ballot

People hold signs during a news conference by Nevadans for Reproductive Freedom, Monday, M
AP Photo/John Locher

Nevada officials announced on Friday that a ballot question to enshrine the right to abortion in the state constitution has met the requirements necessary to appear before voters in November. 

“County officials from across Nevada approved the required number of signatures from Nevadans for Reproductive Freedom, the political action committee that organized the ballot initiative,” Associated Press reported. “The Nevada Secretary of State’s office certified those totals, according to a memo sent to organizers Friday.”

Nevada Right to Life spokesperson Krystal Minera-Alvis said in a statement that the proposed amendment is misleading, “based on lies,” and funded by “out of state dark money.”

“As an organization, we stand firm on the fact that this amendment is unsafe and dangerous for women of all ages,” Minera-Alvis said. 

RELATED: Two Years After Dobbs: Abortion Is on the Ballot in These States in November

The pro-abortion coalition pushing the ballot measure includes several left-wing organizations and Planned Parenthood affiliation. The group announced in May that it had submitted more than 200,000 signatures from registered voters, surpassing the 103,000 needed to qualify for the ballot in November.

The proposed amendment would further expand the state constitution to include the “fundamental right to reproductive freedom,” including prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, birth control, vasectomy, tubal ligation, abortion, and “abortion care.”

The amendment allows state lawmakers to regulate abortion after “fetal viability,” which is around 22 to 24 weeks of pregnancy, but allows abortions throughout pregnancy if “in the professional judgment of an attending provider of health care, [the abortion] is medically indicated to protect the life or physical or mental health of the pregnant individual.”

If the proposed measure passes in November, it would have to pass again in 2026 before being added to the constitution, per state law.

In Nevada, a statute was upheld through a referendum vote in 1990 allowing abortion through 24 weeks of pregnancy. The law allows abortions throughout pregnancy when the life of the mother is in danger or for health reasons.

Pro-abortion activists in nearly a dozen other states are putting abortion amendments on the ballot in November, after a string of state-level pro-abortion victories following the fall of Roe v. Wade — a 1973 Supreme Court decision which had, for 50 years, invented a constitutional right to abortion.

Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on X @thekat_hamilton.

Authored by Katherine Hamilton via Breitbart June 29th 2024