Officials in Nevada have formally certified a proposed amendment that would enshrine access to abortion in the state constitution, which will appear on the November ballot.
The measure was announced Friday by organizers of the ballot measure as well as the Nevada secretary of state’s office. This makes Nevada the sixth state to put the issue of abortion rights directly to voters in this year’s election.
“The support this initiative has received from Nevadans throughout the signature-gathering process shows what we know to be true: Nevadans believe that health care decisions about abortion are best left to women, their doctors, and those who love and trust — not politicians,” Lindsey Harmon, president of Nevadans for Reproductive Freedom, the group behind the effort, said in a statement.
In May, the group announced that it had collected more than 200,000 signatures from registered voters – far more than the 103,000 needed to move forward with the process of qualifying its proposal for the ballot. The Nevada secretary of state’s office said Friday night that it verified those signatures and concluded that all requirements were met for the amendment to appear on the November ballot.
In Nevada, abortion is legal until the 24th week of pregnancy. But fearing that such rights could be undone in the future, reproductive rights advocates sought to put on the ballot a constitutional amendment that would enshrine similar language — protecting the right to abortion up to fetal viability — to make it nearly impossible for lawmakers to eliminate the protections.
Under state law, even if the measure passes in November, voters will need to approve it again in 2026 before Nevada’s constitution is formally amended.
The ballot measure could, however, help increase Democratic turnout in Nevada, a swing state that hosts competitive races for president and the U.S. Senate.
Constitutional amendments to enshrine the right to abortion will now appear on general election ballots in six states this fall. The others are Florida, Maryland, New York, South Dakota and Colorado.
Organizers in five other states — Arizona, Arkansas, Missouri, Montana and Nebraska — are working to promote similar ballot measures.
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