Nevada’s state assembly just passed a bill removing a series of restrictions on abortions, including requirements that a patient be told about the “physical and emotional implications” of having an abortion, that “a physician certify a pregnant woman’s marital status and age before performing an abortion,” and that a provider inform the patient of the “consequences” of having an abortion. The Associated Press reports that under the bill, it would no longer be illegal for a non-physician to dispense abortion-inducing medications.
“When the rest of the country may feel hopeless, may feel bleak, they should look to Nevada as the shining beacon that we are for women’s rights,” Democratic Sen. Yvanna Cancela said before the vote.
Note the contrast between the makeup of Nevada’s assembly, which is the first woman-majority state legislature in the country, and that of Alabama’s legislature, in which 25 white men passed a bill essentially banning abortion. Nevada’s bill now goes to the Senate, where a similar bill has already passed. Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak, a Democrat, is expected to sign the bill into law.
Nevada is one among a handful of states, including Vermont, Rhode Island, and Illinois, where Democrats have been pushing stronger abortion protections in response to a growing threat against Roe. (The push to codify Roe in Rhode Island, however, has stalled in the Senate). Currently, ten states protect Roe, including New York, which codified abortion protections in early 2019.