U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto speaks to the media regarding womens reproductive rights during a news conference with Nevada Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro and Adrienne Mansanares, chief experience officer at Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains Friday Sept. 17 2021.
Monday, Nov. 28, 2022 | 2 a.m.
Nevada has seen a spike in abortions since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and a number of other states severely restricted access to the procedure, according to a national study.
In Nevada, the number of procedures rose 21% from April, before the court’s ruling letting states ban or further restrict abortions, to August, two months afterward, according to the Society of Family Planning report.
Nationwide, the number of abortions in the same period declined 6%, the report noted.
The findings suggest that women from restrictive states are traveling to receive abortions in states like Nevada, where a woman’s right to an abortion is guaranteed by state law up to 24 weeks into her pregnancy.
“I can tell you that about 50% of our patients right now are coming from out of state, whether it be because of confusion or bans or general uncertainty, or maybe just safety concerns,” said Lindsey Harmon, executive director of Planned Parenthood Votes Nevada, a nonprofit advocacy spinoff of the reproductive health care provider.
“There’s just a lot of fear out there with patients, and they’re looking for alternative methods or alternative locations to serve them in a safe environment,” Harmon said.
The report by the Society of Family Planning, which specializes in abortion and contraception science, aims to capture the shifts in abortion access by state after the Supreme Court’s ruling June 24 in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
The decision overturned Roe v. Wade, removing the guarantee it had provided since 1973 for abortion in all U.S. states until fetal viability.
Since the case was overturned, a number of states have implemented near-total abortion bans or severe restrictions with criminal and civil penalties.
The greatest decline in the number of abortions happened in the “same states with the greatest structural and social inequities in terms of maternal morbidity and mortality and poverty,” the report said.
Noting that the impact of the Supreme Court’s ruling “is not equally distributed,” the report said “people of color and people working to make ends meet have been impacted the most.”
In some states, like Texas, abortions have become virtually nonexistent. The number of abortions performed there dropped from an estimated 2,770 in April to just 10 in August, the report said.
In Nevada, meanwhile, the number increased from some 1,030 in April to 1,250 in August, the report said.
“One anticipated outcome of the Dobbs decision is that people needing abortions will have to travel out of state for abortion care,” the report noted.
But such travel comes with “heavy burdens, including delays to care and increased cost, both financial and social; those who are unable to overcome those burdens are left to carry pregnancies to term,” the report said.
Harmon said tracking the number of women from out of state is tricky because it involves patient confidentiality, but there’s no doubt Nevada clinics have seen a surge in patients. Many have come from border states like Utah and Arizona, she said.
“This essentially is a national health care crisis,” Harmon said.
Abortion access was a hot-button issue in this year’s midterm elections.
“Exit polls showed that abortion was the second-highest priority for many voters, so I think what you’re seeing is … a motivation to protect abortion rights for folks across the nation and particularly in states like Nevada,” Harmon said.
In Nevada, voters reelected abortion rights advocate Catherine Cortez Masto to the U.S. Senate, while ousting Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak in favor of Republican Joe Lombardo, who has waffled on his stance on abortion.
Sisolak warned that Lombardo would try to restrict access to abortions, including repealing an executive order protecting out-of-state women seeking procedures in Nevada.
The order bars Nevada officials from aiding other states seeking to prosecute or take civil action against a woman who received an abortion.
“Reproductive health care is a basic human right, and Nevada stands firm in its commitment to ensuring there is safe and equitable access for Nevadans and anyone seeking refuge from the restrictive laws in their state,” Sisolak said in a statement in June.
“No one should be punished for providing or receiving necessary medical care, including abortions, contraception and other reproductive health care services,” Sisolak said.
During his campaign, Lombardo said he was once in favor of rolling back the order but changed his mind after learning that other states might prosecute women who come to Nevada for abortions. He pledged he would not repeal the order.
“We expect Lombardo will hold true to his word and, if not, we’ll be there to make sure that the voters know about it,” Harmon said.
Apart from executive action, the likelihood of any legislation restricting abortion in Nevada appears slim. Democrats, who have generally been in favor of abortion rights, hold a supermajority in the Assembly and a 13-8 majority in the state Senate.
Harmon said she was optimistic that state lawmakers could work on further abortion protections, even with Lombardo in office.
“There’s a lot of stigma related to abortion,” she said. “I’m hoping that having these conversations about real-life patients and the impact on people that we will start to break down that stigma, and that will drive the legislative response to that.”
At the federal level, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., introduced legislation in September to ban abortions in all states after 15 weeks gestation.
But the odds of the legislation even making it out of committee are slim, with Democrats holding control of the Senate.
Harmon noted that Planned Parenthood spent some $50 million nationally on the midterm elections “with the knowledge that abortion rights were on the line.”
“We were pretty successful in that we beat back what is traditionally the red midterm wave, and we beat back a lot of extremists,” Harmon said.
“There’s still a lot of work to be done, and we see the next election cycle is an opportunity to drive home those values that we know so many Americans hold in their heart,” she said.
