Nevada Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro speaks during an early voting rally at Cheyenne High School in North Las Vegas Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2022.
Thursday, Feb. 9, 2023 | 12:38 p.m.
Nevada Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro, D-Las Vegas, today introduced a bill that seeks legal protections for out-of-state abortion patients and abortion providers, shielding them from legal action in states where the procedure is outlawed.
The measure, Senate Bill 131, would codify an executive order issued by former Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak, a Democrat, in June after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled to overturn the landmark precedent establishing the right to an abortion in the 1973 case Roe v. Wade.
“Nevadans overwhelmingly support the right to choose, and we want health care providers and patients to know that they are safe and welcome here in Nevada,” Cannizzaro said in a statement.
“Across the country, states are enacting draconian abortion bans, stripping people of reproductive health care, and threatening to prosecute providers for health care performed beyond their borders. As a result, we must strengthen our legal protections for health care providers and the patients who are now forced to come to Nevada to seek care.”
Lindsey Harmon, executive director of Planned Parenthood Votes Nevada — the political arm of the nation’s largest provider of reproductive health care — commended the move.
“This is a crucial step in continuing to shore up protections for abortion patients in Nevada,” Harmon said. “When the Supreme Court struck down federal protections for abortion rights last summer, it created an abortion access crisis in this country leaving millions of people to travel to states like Nevada. As a state that has long valued protecting the right to abortion, we must continue to ensure that we do our part to protect anyone who seeks abortion care here from being criminalized or prosecuted by their home states.”
The bill will almost certainly clear both chambers of the Nevada Legislature, as Democrats hold a supermajority in the Assembly and a 13-8 edge in the Senate. The Nevada Assembly Democratic Caucus today signed on as co-sponsors of the bill.
Should it clear the Legislature, it would set up a possible clash with first-term Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo, who changed his stance on overturning Sisolak’s executive order on the campaign trail.
Lombardo, who positioned himself as a pro-life candidate and earned endorsements from several anti-abortion groups, initially said if elected, he would overturn the executive order. But when pressed about it in a debate with Sisolak in October, Lombardo changed his tune and committed to keeping the order in place.
It’s not clear if Lombardo supports the legislation. On Monday, Lombardo Communications Director Elizabeth Ray said the governor isn’t commenting on legislation until it can be signed into law.
“We’re not commenting on bills or BDRs (bill-draft requests) at this point, but we’ll monitor them as they work through the legislative process,” Ray said in a statement.
Nevada passed a measure in 1990 protecting abortion in the Silver State until 24 weeks gestation. Such a law could only be repealed if a similar voter initiative was passed.
