Officials in Nevada have formally certified a proposed amendment that would enshrine abortion access in the state's constitution to appear on the November ballot.
The move was announced late Friday by organizers behind the ballot measure as well as the Nevada secretary of state’s office. It makes Nevada the sixth state to put the issue of abortion rights directly before voters in this year's election.
“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,” Lindsey Harmon, the president of Nevadans for Reproductive Freedom, the group behind the effort, said in statement.
In May, the group announced it had collected more than 200,000 signatures of registered voters — far more than the 103,000 it needed to move forward with the process of qualifying its proposal for the ballot. The Nevada secretary of state’s office said Friday night it had verified those signatures and concluded all requirements had been met for the amendment to appear on the November ballot.
In Nevada, abortion is already legal until the 24th week of pregnancy. But fearing that such rights could be undone in the future, reproductive rights advocates had sought to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot that would enshrine similar language — protecting abortion rights up until fetal viability — to make it close to impossible for lawmakers to ever eliminate the protections.
Under state law, even if the measure passes in November, voters would need to approve it again in 2026 before the Nevada constitution is formally amended.
The ballot measure could nevertheless help boost Democratic turnout in Nevada, a battleground state that is hosting competitive races for president and the U.S. Senate.
Constitutional amendments to enshrine abortion rights will now appear on the general election ballot in six states this fall. The others are Florida, Maryland, New York, South Dakota and Colorado.
Organizers in another five states — Arizona, Arkansas, Missouri, Montana and Nebraska — are working to advance similar ballot measures.
