Monday, Nov. 7, 2022 | 2 a.m.
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In November 1990, Nevadans voted overwhelmingly to enshrine a woman’s fundamental right to make decisions over her body into state law. Now, more than 30 years later, these freedoms are under unprecedented attack nationally, putting them at risk in Nevada.
In the months since the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade, anti-choice politicians’ assault on our reproductive rights has been relentless.
It breaks my heart that my daughter’s generation will no longer have the same guarantee of rights to make decisions about their own health care that my generation had since Roe was decided nearly five decades ago. The idea that the next generation of American women now has fewer rights than the prior one is disturbing, especially in terms of what it means for those who have been sexually assaulted or face serious health complications during their pregnancy.
We have already seen and heard the horror stories of women living in states that have enacted abortion bans. We have heard how women and even young girls who were raped or were the victims of incest were unable to get an abortion in their states, forcing them to travel great distances. And we have also seen examples of right-wing politicians looking to restrict a woman’s ability to travel to other states to get the medical care they desperately need.
Without the legal protections previously ensured by Roe, anti-choice states have been enacting cruel, rigid laws that diminish women’s bodily rights, threaten to jail them and their doctors, and put their health and their lives at risk. And this is no longer just an issue at the state level; Republicans in Congress want to take their restrictions nationwide.
We knew all along that overturning Roe would be just the beginning of the attacks on women’s health and reproductive freedoms. Republicans in Congress have already introduced legislation to enact a national abortion ban, one that would strip women nationwide of their fundamental right to control their bodies. This ban — and that is exactly what it is, a federal ban on abortion — poses a real and serious threat to women’s rights in every part of this country, including right here in Nevada. This is a dangerous nationwide government mandate that would threaten women and their doctors with jail time and force desperate patients seeking medical care to turn to dangerous alternatives.
If this national abortion ban legislation were to pass, its devastating effects would be far-reaching, affecting women in every state, including ours. Nevada has been a proudly pro-choice state; and for decades, we have prevented anti-choice politicians in our state from attacking this fundamental right. But a national ban would override our state law, essentially overturning the will of voters and forcing Nevadans to abide by this strict federal mandate.
In the Senate, I am standing up for Nevada women against the threat of a nationwide abortion ban. Since the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, I’ve worked to pass legislation that would restore and enshrine those protections for abortion rights into federal law. In the meantime, I’ve also introduced and tried to pass bills that would protect a woman’s ability to travel across state lines to access care, and a doctor’s ability to provide reproductive care, without the threat of prosecution.
At every turn, Republicans in the Senate blocked these efforts.
Make no mistake, I will do everything I can alongside my pro-choice colleagues to fight back against these efforts threatening our reproductive rights in Nevada and across our country.
We will never allow a national abortion ban to pass the Senate. We must protect abortion rights and stand strong against these radical, out-of-touch efforts to insert politicians into a woman’s most personal health care decisions.
Jacky Rosen was elected to serve Nevada in the U.S. Senate in 2018.
