The Nevada Supreme Court has ruled in favor of allowing a pro-abortion question to be added to the 2024 state voting ballot.
The measure seeks to protect contraception, fertility, and abortion in the state — but according to The Nevada Independent, it is primarily focused on abortion. A second proposed ballot question regarding abortion has yet to be reviewed by the court.
The state Supreme Court’s decision overturned a lower court ruling that said the ballot measure was unconstitutional because it contained prenatal care, abortion, vasectomies, and infertility care under the same umbrella of “reproductive rights.” Including all of those topics in one question was too broad, District Judge James T. Russell ruled. The state Supreme Court disagreed.
“[A]ll the medical procedures considered in the initiative petition concern reproduction. To assert that they could not all be addressed together because they are separate procedures is improper,” read the decision, which was signed by six of seven justices. Justice Patricia Lee recused herself from the case because of a professional conflict of interest.
Though each of the topics may be related to reproduction, technically, vasectomies prevent reproduction, and abortion takes place after reproduction has already occurred by intentionally killing the existing, developing human beings who have already been created by biological reproduction.
The ballot measure was written by Nevadans for Reproductive Freedom PAC, which is connected to Planned Parenthood’s political advocacy arm, Reproductive Freedom for All Nevada (formerly NARAL Pro-Choice Nevada), and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
The PAC has a backup plan, however, in the form of a narrower petition that only focuses on abortion. The state Supreme Court must still rule on the constitutionality of that proposal, which has already been approved by Russell, the same judge who ruled against the original proposed measure that includes vasectomies and contraception.
To make it on the ballot, the PAC must gather 102,362 signatures of support for each proposed question by June 26 with at least 25,591 coming from each of the state’s four congressional districts. The group said earlier this month that it is halfway to its goal and should meet the required signature count and deadline.
If one of the pro-abortion measures is successfully placed on the ballot and is passed, it must all pass again in 2026 to be added to the state Constitution.
Abortion is already legal in Nevada through 24 weeks of pregnancy because of a 1990 referendum that can only be overturned by a majority vote of the people. Abortion is also legal in the state after 24 weeks if the woman’s life or health is at risk, though at that point the baby is old enough to survive outside the womb, and induced abortion (which involves intentional and direct killing) is not medically necessary.
