Thursday, Feb. 20, 2020 | 2 a.m.
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In Nevada, we trust women to make decisions regarding their own bodies and have protected their right to an abortion.
This past legislative session, we ensured that that right was protected with the passing of Senate Bill 179, the Trust Nevada Women Act. That legislation updated the law by eliminating antiquated penalties that treat abortion as a crime. The legislation ensures a woman gets all the information she needs in the language she speaks so she can make the best decision for her and her family.
While some states across the country are curtailing women’s ability to decide for themselves or proposing bills to punish and stigmatize people who have abortions, our state chose to trust women to make those deeply personal decisions.
In Mexico, where I was born, abortion isn’t a protected right like it is here. But my mother still taught me that I was the only one who could make decisions regarding my own body — because it was mine, no one else’s. Seeing the country I now live in roll back the clock on respecting women’s bodily autonomy sends chills down my spine. It makes me wonder what the candidates for the president of the United States have to say about abortion.
This week, in preparation for Saturday’s Nevada caucuses, presidential candidates have been all over the state on television and social media, in mailboxes and at local hotspots around our communities. During their stay, we need to hear them use the word abortion.
The nation is at a crossroads for abortion rights. Extremist anti-abortion elected officials, judges and activists are emboldened by the current administration — not just to attack Roe v. Wade like never before, but to take away abortion access and even punish people who have abortions, or doctors who provide them.
Abortion is a common and safe procedure that millions of women have experienced. One in four American women have an abortion at some point — two-thirds of them already have children. Yet for too long, too few have talked about abortion, the role it plays in our lives and the consequences of forcing women to continue a pregnancy against their will. Hostile opposition and silence from supporters have pushed abortion care out of reach while stigmatizing providers and patients.
While Nevada has taken good first steps, candidates for president must speak up directly about abortion so we can assess whether or not these candidates will fight to ensure that every pregnant person has the ability to make their own decisions and determine their own futures. We need a president who pledges to champion abortion rights with the same commitment that President Donald Trump and his far-right allies have shown in stacking the courts and state legislatures against women’s basic rights to forge our own futures.
In 1977, Rosie Jimenez died after having an unsafe abortion. She wanted to become a teacher and have a better life for her and her 5-year-old daughter, but she had no access to the procedure. Today, abortion is legal and safer than ever thanks to technology like medication abortion, but it’s still not accessible for too many people who need it. Every candidate must have a plan not only to ensure our legal rights but also to ensure equal access for everyone — no matter where they live, whether they have insurance or how much money they have.
Candidates for president, will you trust every one of us with the agency to make the decision about if and when we become a parent? Do you agree that abortion is and needs to be treated the same as other health care by our laws, by our medical community and by insurance companies? Will you affirm that we should not be a country where our reproductive decisions are met with shame, coercion or judgment, but instead with support, resources and respect?
Welcome to Nevada, presidential candidates. It’s now your turn to talk about abortion.
Maria-Teresa Liebermann-Parraga is deputy director for the progressive advocacy group Battle Born Progress.
