Nevada’s Supreme Court favors abortion rights group in ballot measure wording dispute
A potential ballot measure in Nevada aims to enshrine abortion rights and move closer to the November ballot. The state Supreme Court’s ruling favored the initiative’s language, overturning a lower court decision supported by the Coalition for Parents and Children. The court deemed the ballot question concerning a fundamental right to reproductive freedom as valid, dismissing claims of addressing multiple subjects.
A potential ballot measure enshrining abortion rights in Nevada is one step closer to appearing before voters in November after the state Supreme Court ruled in its favor over the language of the proposed ballot initiative.
A lower court had sided with the Coalition for Parents and Children in its argument that the ballot question, which would establish “a fundamental right to reproductive freedom,” addressed multiple subjects. The state Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that the lower court had “erred” when it placed an injunction on the ballot measure.
“This initiative petition’s single subject is the creation of a fundamental right to reproductive freedom. All the petition’s provisions are fundamentally related or germane to that single subject. There is no logrolling,” the decision read.
Reproductive Freedom for All Nevada, one of the groups looking to get the proposal on the ballot, celebrated the decision.
“Today’s decision is a resounding victory for our movement that builds on our momentum as we fight to lock the right to reproductive freedom into our state constitution,” Denise Lopez, Reproductive Freedom for All Nevada’s director, said in a statement on Thursday.
“As anti-abortion extremists continue to attack our fundamental rights — from abortion to birth control to fertility treatments — this decision recognizes that reproductive freedom includes all reproductive health care,” Lopez said.
The group says the campaign for the ballot measure has garnered more than 160,000 signatures, which is more than the required number to make the ballot in November. The signatures, however, must be submitted to Nevada’s secretary of state and get verified before the measure can be placed before voters.
When abortion has been on the ballot since the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, it has typically been a boost to Democratic candidates.
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Nevada is rated as a “toss up” for both the presidential and Senate races, according to the Cook Political Report. President Joe Biden won the state in 2020, and Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) is seeking a second term to her seat in November after defeating a GOP incumbent in 2018.
Abortion will be on the ballot in Florida, and the topic could make its way to the ballot in Arizona and Montana — states that also have hotly contested Senate races.
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