A few weeks ago, an Arizona Supreme Court ruling made it illegal to have an abortion in most cases.
That meant pregnancies resulting from rape or incest can’t be aborted. The only abortion allowed would be in case a mother’s life is in danger.
The ruling revived an 1864 law, which was enabled by the U.S. Supreme Court decision two years ago overturning federal protections for abortion.
And there are fears that Arizona’s decision could have a big impact in Nevada.
Nevada has one of the lowest doctor-per-resident ratios in the country. Dr. Joseph Adashek, president-elect of the Nevada State Medical Association, said his office at Southern Hills Hospital and Medical Center had already been getting calls from women in Arizona. Adashek is a perinatologist who deals with complicated births.
“And we tend to see people later in pregnancy with lethal or nearly lethal birth defects,” he added. “So we get calls to see if abortion is available because Arizona already has a ban in place at 15 weeks.”
The Wild West Access Fund was established a few years ago in Las Vegas to help pay for travel costs and abortions in Nevada. About 30 percent of its requests are from out of state.
Macy Haverda, president of the Fund, said they’ve gotten 268 calls already this year, not including April. WWAF is funded with private donations.
“We get calls for abortions costing $400 all the way up to $20,000,” she said, noting the higher costs are for abortions in the third trimester.
She added that funded greatly increased after the 2022 overturning of Roe v. Wade. But it has since fallen off.
Stephanie Innes, a health reporter at the Arizona Republic, said politicians are working to negate that state’s supreme court decision. Arizona’s House of Representatives this week passed a bill to repeal the 1864 law that justices upheld.
If that goes through the state senate and is signed by the governor, would it nullify what the supreme court did?
“The belief is, yes, that it would do that,” Innes said.
While that’s happening in Arizona, Nevada voters will be asked this fall if they want to enshrine abortion protections into the state Constitution. The Nevada chapter of Planned Parenthood Votes was part of the effort to get what amounted to 170,000 petition signatures to get that question on the ballot.
But Nevada already protects abortion rights up to 24 weeks of pregnancy. So why does it need a constitutional amendment?
“We want to be absolutely sure that statutory protections will not be removed,” said Lindsey Harmon, executive director of Planned Parenthood Votes Nevada. “We have to give providers that ability to help their patients in emergency situations and provide the best care that they can.
Meanwhile, Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump has said this isn’t a federal issue. It should be up to the states. He was the president who appointed justices who helped overturn federal abortion protections.
Harmon said Nevadans need to be thinking about a Congress that could one day outlaw abortions nationwide.
“As a border state, it’s so important we are looking at our own laws and deciding how to best position ourselves when Congress does, or could enact (a federal ban on abortion.),” she added. “It is a very real possibility that Congress could do this.”
She added that having a state constitutional amendment could be important in future legal arguments, which she described as a “gray area” right now.
Back in Arizona, Innes said there is a “lot of action and energy” around the issue.
“One provider I talked to said, ‘we just need to make it to November,’” she added. “So there’s a lot of interest in this.”
