Ignoring objections from his own party, Nevada Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo signed a pro-abortion bill Tuesday that pro-life leaders warn would protect human traffickers and abusers who bring underage girls across state lines for secret abortions.
The new law, state Senate Bill 131, was nicknamed the “Abortion Traffickers Protection Act” by Nevada Right to Life.
The lead sponsor, state Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro, said the bill simply 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 the investigation and prosecution of illegal abortion practices, according to the Associated Press.
But Nevada Right to Life, the leading state pro-life organization, said the bill really would protect abusers who bring underage girls to Nevada to abort their unborn babies without their parents’ knowledge. Nevada does not require parental consent for underage girls to have abortions, but many other states do. If an abuser takes a girl to Nevada for an abortion, skirting the parental consent law in their home state, the bill would protect the abuser from prosecution under their home state law.
Lombardo’s spokeswoman Elizabeth Ray defended the governor’s actions Tuesday, saying he was just following through with a campaign promise, according to Raw Story.
ACTION ALERT: To complain about signing this pro-abortion bill, Contact Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo.
“Governor Lombardo made a campaign commitment to sign a law ensuring that Nevada would not participate in prosecuting those seeking legal medical care in the state,” Ray said.
But the Republican governor called himself pro-life on the campaign trail and then flip-flopped on the issue.
The AP reports Lombardo initially said he would not support the measure, but, a few months later, he said the opposite. Then in February, the Republican governor said he would sign the bill as long as it did not add anything more to the former governor’s executive order.
Pro-life advocates urged the governor to oppose the bill, but pro-abortion groups put intense pressure on him to sign it.
“SB131 would protect predators and bad actor adults who transport minor girls to Nevada for secret abortions without parental notification or consent,” Nevada Right to Life said. “What type of adult secretly transports someone else’s child to Nevada for a surgical procedure? Should Nevada protect those types of people?”
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. This spring, lawmakers also advanced a state constitutional amendment, Senate Joint Resolution 7, that would make it more difficult for voters and lawmakers to pass protections for unborn babies in the future.
Pro-lifers fear Nevada may become a destination state for abortions. The neighboring states of Arizona and Utah are fighting in court to enforce their laws protecting unborn babies, and Idaho already protects unborn babies by banning elective abortions.
In 2020, 8,633 abortions were reported in Nevada, according to the Charlotte Lozier Institute.
ACTION ALERT: To complain about signing this pro-abortion bill, Contact Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo.