GOP recall effort sexist

By Caroline Mello Roberson

Friday, Oct. 27, 2017 | 2 a.m.

With Donald Trump in the White House and his administration working to enact anti-choice policies at every level, we are now seeing unprecedented threats to reproductive freedom. It’s obvious that Trump and the anti-choice GOP have a personal obsession with rolling back the rights of women and undermining our ability to make decisions about our own bodies and futures. Instead of standing with women and protecting our most basic human rights, the Nevada GOP is targeting women right here at home by using shady tactics to push for a sexist recall of three female senators.

Three female Nevada state senators — Joyce Woodhouse, Nicole Cannizzaro, and Patricia Farley — are the target of a hyperpartisan, Republican-led recall effort. Less than a year after these women were elected by Nevada voters, Republicans have concocted a scheme to nullify the voters’ choice to serve the GOP’s narrow partisan goals. Even worse, Republicans are using shady tactics to try to push this recall through with as little attention as possible, avoiding media and preventing the people of Nevada from having a proper conversation around the recall. However, the Senate’s Republican leader, Michael Roberson, acknowledged publicly that he hoped the recall would allow the GOP to get “back in control of the state Senate by Christmas.”

Republicans are showing that they will stoop to any level to enforce their out-of-touch, ideological agenda. But sadly, it’s no surprise that in their desperation, Republicans have targeted three female senators. The 2017 session was the first one where women made up nearly 40 percent of the Legislature. For Republicans pushing an anti-choice agenda that hinges on rolling back women’s basic human rights, these three empowered senators pose significant ideological threats.

Moreover, Woodhouse, Cannizzaro and Farley have pushed to empower other women across the state, threatening the political power base of right-wing politicians and the big donors who fund their careers. Frankly, this recall effort is a thinly veiled effort by Republican leaders to weaponize misogyny for their own political benefit.

These senators also have long histories of supporting pro-choice, progressive reforms that Nevada’s women and families count on. In the 2017 session, Woodhouse and Cannizzaro were prime sponsors of the successful legislation that made birth control affordable and accessible. Cannizzaro was also the prime sponsor of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act,a new law that ensures no Nevadan faces workplace discrimination because they become pregnant.

Together, these women are advancing reproductive freedom across the state, and making Nevada a better place for women and families.

That’s why NARAL Nevada members stood with voters in supporting Woodhouse and Cannizzaro in their last election. Our members volunteered as part of the successful campaign team that elected two strongly pro-choice women to the Legislature, because we understand the importance of having champions for women’s rights in the Senate.

Now that Republican leaders are using shady tactics to undermine the will of Nevada voters, NARAL members will continue to mobilize and organize to defend the legislative champions who stand up for our rights. The women and families of Nevada deserve elected officials who look out for their best interests, such as access to affordable health care, including contraception and abortion. This recall effort is a new low for the state’s GOP, and one that voters will surely remember when they are at the ballot box.

Caroline Mello Roberson is the state director of NARAL Pro-Choice Nevada.