Nevada Judge Rejects Ballot Initiative for Abortion Rights

A district court judge in Carson City struck down a petition on Tuesday to put an abortion rights amendment to the Nevada constitution on the ballot for 2024.

The petition was brought by Nevadans for Reproductive Freedom with the aim of enshrining abortion rights into the constitution with a public ballot question. However, District Court Judge James Russell ruled the document contained “too many subjects” and was too broad.

Russell’s ruling stated, “It is clear to me this is probably the clearest case I have seen that I think there is a violation of the single-subject rule.” He also said, “there are too many subjects — not all of which are functionally related to each other,” according to KOLO.

The proposed amendment would have amended the state constitution to include a “fundamental right to reproductive freedom,” including abortion, abortion care, prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, vasectomy, tubal ligation, and birth control, if passed by voters in the 2024 elections, as reported by the Associated Press.

The measure was opposed in court by the Coalition for Parents and Children, a pro-life organization, which argued the measure contained more than one subject, going against Nevada law regulating what a petition could include.

Coalition representative Jason Guinasso argued that the proposed amendment would also protect care providers and end up as an “unfunded mandate” for Nevada taxpayers.

Nevadans for Reproductive Freedom along with allies Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union stated they will appeal the decision to state supreme court.

Lindsey Harmon with Nevadans for Reproductive Freedom said, “We are optimistic about the ballot initiative as a whole; and, you know, we plan to appeal this. And we know that, in fact, these are all a single subject.”

In order to move forward, the supreme court needs to overturn the lower court’s ruling and the petition must get 100,000 signatures in the state by June to appear on the ballot. It would need to pass in both 2024 and 2026 to become part of the state constitution, according to the report.