Nevada abortion rights advocates say Question 6 is urgent 4 years after the Dobbs decision

Nevada Democrats and reproductive rights advocates on Wednesday renewed their push for voters to approve Ballot Question 6 this November, casting the measure as a critical step to permanently protect abortion access in the state Constitution.

The proposal, also known as the Right to Abortion Initiative, would need a second approval from voters this year after passing with about 64% support in 2024. If approved again, it would enshrine abortion protections in Nevada’s Constitution, placing them beyond the reach of future Legislatures.

Supporters said the measure is especially urgent as abortion access remains uncertain nationally, with President Donald Trump continuing attacks on women’s reproductive rights.

“Four years after Dobbs, Nevada Democrats remain committed to protecting reproductive freedom and ensuring every woman has the right to make her own health care decisions — and we will codify those rights in the Nevada Constitution this November,” the Nevada Democratic Party said in a statement.

At a Wednesday news conference, Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro, the Democratic nominee for attorney general, warned that broader reproductive rights — including access to contraception and fertility treatments — could also be at risk.

“We know that attacks on reproductive rights don’t stop at abortion,” Cannizzaro said. “We will not let the MAGA agenda roll back decades of progress, and here we will continue to fight to ensure that Nevadans have access to abortion, to birth control, to fertility treatments, and to all of the reproductive health care that they need.”

The push for Question 6 continued Wednesday afternoon with a rally and speeches in downtown Las Vegas.

Reproductive rights advocates also pointed to recent policy fights in Nevada, including Gov. Joe Lombardo’s vetoes of bills related to contraception access and in vitro fertilization, as evidence that constitutional protections are needed.

Cannizzaro highlighted legislation passed in 2023 that protects out-of-state patients seeking abortion care in Nevada, while organizers emphasized the state’s growing role as a regional access point.

According to the Center for Reproductive Rights, about 142,000 people traveled out of state for abortion care in 2025. In Nevada, the Wild West Fund reported assisting nearly 1,900 callers last year, with monthly requests rising significantly in recent years.

Denise Lopez, director of Nevada campaigns for Reproductive Freedom for All, said restrictions in other states are already increasing demand for care in Nevada.

“Today, Trump and anti-abortion extremists, like Gov. (Joe) Lombardo, continue to push policies designed to eliminate reproductive health care,” Lopez said. “They are attacking medication abortion; defunding providers like Planned Parenthood and community health care centers; and gutting Medicaid. Their extreme policies set reproductive freedom back to a place where grandchildren have less reproductive freedom than their grandparents did.”

Medical providers also warned of the health consequences of limiting access. Dr. Leti Scheib, a labor and delivery nurse, said restricting abortion care can increase the risk of serious complications or death for pregnant patients.

The renewed push comes on the fourth anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade, which for nearly 50 years had established a constitutional right to abortion nationwide.

In that 2022 ruling, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the court upheld a Mississippi law banning most abortions after 15 weeks and overturned Roe v. Wade (1973) and Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey (1992), which had reaffirmed that right.

Writing for the majority in Dobbs, Justice Samuel Alito said the Constitution “makes no mention of abortion” and argued the court had been wrong to recognize it as a protected right, calling Roe “egregiously wrong from the start.”

In a joint dissent, Justices Stephen Breyer, Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor wrote that Roe and Casey “protected the liberty and equality of women” and warned that overturning them stripped away a right that had allowed individuals to decide whether to continue a pregnancy without government interference.

Since the Dobbs decision, at least 20 states have banned or severely restricted abortion access, according to the Center for Reproductive Rights, while legal and political battles over medication abortion and interstate access continue.

Nevada’s push to enshrine abortion rights in the state Constitution comes amid a sharply divided regional landscape. Neighboring Utah’s trigger ban remains blocked in court, Arizona voters approved abortion rights in 2024 but older restrictions are still being challenged, and Idaho remains one of the most restrictive states in the country with near-total abortion bans. Together, those border states help show why supporters of Ballot Question 6 say Nevada’s protections matter not just for residents here, but for patients across the region.

“Voters — Republican, Democrat and Independent — have made clear time and again that we support protecting abortion access and personal freedom,” the Nevada Democratic Party said. “And we will continue fighting against any effort to undermine those rights.”