Nevada voters will decide on abortion amendment in November, joining five other states—CO, FL, MD, NY, and SD

By

Nicole Fisher

Voters in Nevada will decide on a citizen-initiated ballot measure to provide a state constitutional right to an abortion on Nov. 5, 2024.

About 128,000 signatures were verified on June 28, 2024. For a citizen initiative to qualify for the ballot, 102,362 valid signatures were required.

Voters in 11 states could vote on abortion-related measures in Nov. 2024. Ballot measures are certified in six states—Colorado, Florida, Maryland, New York, Nevada, and South Dakota.

The Nevada initiative would establish a right to abortion in the Nevada Constitution until fetal viability, except when it is medically necessary to “protect the life or health of the pregnant patient.”

In Nevada, abortion is currently legal until 24 weeks of pregnancy. In 1990, Nevada voters approved Question 7, which legalized abortion until 24 weeks and prohibited the state legislature from amending or repealing the law unless it was placed on the ballot.

Lindsey Harmon, president of Nevadans for Reproductive Freedom, the campaign supporting the initiative, said, “The support this initiative has received from Nevadans throughout the signature collection process shows what we’ve known to be true: Nevadans believe that healthcare decisions about abortion are best left to women, their doctors, and those they love and trust — not politicians.”

Krystal Minera-Alvis, spokesperson for Nevada Right to Life, the campaign opposing the amendment, said, “As an organization, we stand firm on the fact that this amendment is unsafe and dangerous for women of all ages.”

In Nevada, a citizen-initiated constitutional amendment must pass in two consecutive even-numbered election years. This means that the amendment needs to be approved in both the 2024 and the 2026 elections.

Following the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization U.S. Supreme Court decision in 2022, which overturned Roe v. Wade, seven abortion-related measures appeared on the ballot. In 2022, there were six ballot measures addressing abortion—the most on record for a single year. Three—in California, Michigan, and Vermont—proposed enacting state constitutional rights to abortion, and each one was approved. The most recent abortion-related ballot measure to be passed by voters was Ohio Issue 1, which voters approved in Nov. 2023.

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