Nevada's woman-led state Assembly just expanded abortion rights in the state, reversing some restrictions on the procedure that had been around for decades. The Senate's Trust Nevada Women Act passed in the Assembly 27-13.
Gone are unnecessary and counterproductive requirements, such as women having to be told about the "physical and emotional implications" of abortion before the procedure. If it's signed into law, the bill will decriminalize supplying abortion-inducing medication without the advice of a doctor. And it will get rid of an anachronistic, patriarchal, and patronizing law that stated that a provider had to determine a woman's age and marital status before an abortion.
Caroline Mello Roberson, state director of NARAL Pro-Choice Nevada, noted that there were protests against all the restrictive bills enacted all over the country Tuesday, saying that "we may be the only state that had something to celebrate." State Sen. Yvanna Cancela, the bill's primary sponsor, told supporters, "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."
The bill already passed in the Senate last month 12-9 and should reach pro-choice Gov. Steve Sisolak's desk this week. It will be the first piece of abortion-rights legislation enacted in the state since 1973. "I think it’s a really big moment of hope," Roberson said. "I feel that Nevada is a silver beacon out here for those of us that believe in reproductive freedom."
A silver beacon and, hopefully, an example. We’d be fine with male-dominated legislatures expanding abortion rights, too.