The Nevada Senate passed legislation nicknamed the “Abortion Trafficker Protection Bill” on Wednesday with bipartisan support, despite a leading pro-life group’s warnings that it would shield human traffickers and predators from punishment.
The lead sponsor, Nevada Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro, and others say Senate Bill 131 merely would codify an executive order that former Gov. Steve Sisolak, a pro-abortion Democrat, issued last year to ban state authorities from helping pro-life states with their investigations of illegal abortion practices, according to the Associated Press.
The bill passed the state Senate in a 15-6 vote, with two Republicans, Carrie Buck and Minority Leader Heidi Seevers Gansert, voting with Democrats.
But Nevada Right to Life, the leading state pro-life organization, said the bill really should be called the “Abortion Trafficker Protection Bill” because it would shield traffickers and abusers who bring underage girls to Nevada for elective abortions.
“This bill shields predators and bad actor adults who traffic children to Nevada to acquire secret abortions without parental knowledge or consent,” the pro-life organization told supporters in an email alert this week. “What type of adult secretly transports someone else’s child to Nevada for a surgical procedure? Should Nevada protect those types of people?”
The organization is urging lawmakers to reject the bill, which now heads to the state Assembly. Democrats hold a supermajority in the chamber, so the legislation likely will pass.
ACTION ALERT: Contact Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo and urge him to veto the bill.
Another issue of concern, Gov. Joe Lombardo, a Republican who professes to be pro-life, said he probably will sign the bill.
Here’s more from the AP:
Lombardo’s spokeswoman Elizabeth Ray said in a text message that the governor “has encouraged the Legislature to send a clean bill codifying the previous executive order to his desk, and he looks forward to reviewing the proposed legislation.”
During an interview in February, Lombardo indicated he would sign the bill into law if it gets to his desk as written.
“This particular item involving abortions, I could support if it stands on its own,” he told the radio station.
Also advancing in the legislature this spring is another pro-abortion bill, Senate Joint Resolution 7, that would amend the state constitution to create a “right” to abort unborn babies up to birth.
Abortions are legal for any reason up to 24 weeks in Nevada, and the situation is unlikely to change with the Democrats controlling the state legislature. However, a state constitutional amendment would make it more difficult for voters and lawmakers to pass protections for unborn babies in the future.
In 2020, 8,633 abortions were reported in Nevada, according to the Charlotte Lozier Institute.
ACTION ALERT: Contact Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo and urge him to veto the bill.
