Vice President Kamala Harris is continuing her abortion tour on Monday, stopping in Las Vegas, Nevada, to promote a proposed ballot measure that would create a state constitutional right to abortion.
While there, the Biden-Harris campaign will help collect signatures for the initiative, a campaign official told CBS News. The measure is being spearheaded by a coalition called Nevadans for Reproductive Freedom, which includes pro-abortion organizations and Planned Parenthood affiliates.
The proposed amendment would further expand the state constitution to include the “fundamental right to reproductive freedom,” including prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, birth control, vasectomy, tubal ligation, abortion and “abortion care.” The amendment allows state lawmakers to regulate abortion after “fetal viability,” which is around 22 to 24 weeks of pregnancy, but allows abortions throughout pregnancy if “in the professional judgment of an attending provider of health care, [the abortion] is medically indicated to protect the life or physical or mental health of the pregnant individual.”
A campaign official told CBS News that Harris will encourage Nevada voters to support the ballot effort as “an important step to protect against extremist state lawmakers who may try to adopt another ‘Trump abortion ban’ in the future.” Harris is stopping in Nevada after having visited Arizona in the wake of a state supreme court decision that upheld an 1864 law limiting most abortions.
“Harris will make her reelection case in Nevada while joined by Arizona state Senator Eva Burch,” according to the report.
Nevadans for Reproductive Freedom announced in early April that it had collected over 110,000 signatures, with 102,362 needed by June 26 to qualify for the 2024 ballot.
If the proposed measure passes in November, it would have to pass again in 2026 before being added to the constitution, per state law.
In Nevada, a statute was upheld through a referendum vote in 1990 allowing abortion through 24 weeks of pregnancy. The law allows abortions throughout pregnancy when the life of the mother is in danger or for health reasons.
Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on X @thekat_hamilton.
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