Nevada Reproductive Rights Advocates Rally as Vance Visits Las Vegas on Dobbs Anniversary

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LAS VEGAS, NV - Today, Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro joined reproductive rights advocates to mark the anniversary of the Dobbs decision as Vice President JD Vance visited Las Vegas. Vance’s trip comes as the Trump administration continues to celebrate its role in overturning Roe v. Wade, a decision that ended federal constitutional protections for reproductive healthcare. In response, Nevada leaders and advocates gathered to highlight the ongoing impact of Dobbs and raise concerns about the future of reproductive freedom in a post-Roe landscape. Remarks from speakers are included below.

Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro issued the following statement:

“After Dobbs, I immediately led the effort to pass Senate Joint Resolution 7, a constitutional amendment guaranteeing Nevadans a right to reproductive freedom. I am proud to say that work has now evolved into Question 6, which will be on everyone's ballot in November. It will permanently protect the right to seek an abortion here in Nevada within our state constitution. Every single Nevadan and every single Nevada family deserves the right to start or grow their family. Even here, we have faced obstacles from republicans who want to take us backward. Governor Lombardo vetoed legislation that would have protected Nevadans access to contraception. He also vetoed legislation that established a state right to IVF and required insurance to cover fertility treatments. He has said nothing, absolutely nothing, as the Trump Administration has dismantled abortion access and reproductive healthcare at the federal level. That’s why Nevadans, this November, must again vote yes on Question 6. That ballot measure will permanently enshrine the right to reproductive freedom in the Nevada Constitution and will set the stage for future protections like protecting access to IVF.”

Dr. Harpreet Tsui, Primary Care Doctor, issued the following statement:

“Four years ago today, doctors across America got the news that our patients were no longer federally guaranteed the right to abortion. The Supreme Court’s decision was chilling. The Dobbs decision meant that our patients no longer had federally protected access to essential healthcare. It meant states had a green light to pass and enforce total abortion bans. On that day four years ago, I was grateful to live and practice in Nevada, where patients still have abortion access for the time being. But I worry deeply about patients and physicians in other states where abortion became immediately illegal, and I was right to worry. Idaho and Utah have cruel and dangerous bans that prevent women and doctors from making their own decisions about their bodies. No woman should ever have to suffer needlessly, putting her health, fertility, and her very life at risk just because of a politician's belief about abortion. Again, I’m grateful our state doesn’t have such a cruel abortion ban, but we must guarantee that it won’t.”

Leti Scheib, Nurse and RFFA Volunteer, issued the following statement:

“For more than nineteen years, I’ve been a labor and delivery nurse. My career has been spent in the service of life. When I tell you I’m pro-life, I mean it in the most literal way there is. I’ve held life in both my hands. That's why I am grieving today, my heart breaks for the families this ruling has already harmed. The children growing up without mothers, the parents who buried a baby they desperately wanted. They are not statistics to me. They are the people I’ve spent my life trying to protect, and I’m so sorry for what has been taken from them. People hear abortion ban and they assume it touches a narrow slice of care. It does not. The procedures these bans restrict are the very same ones I rely on to save a woman’s life when a pregnancy she wanted goes wrong, when she is miscarrying, hemorrhaging, or fighting an infection spreading in her body. In states with bans, doctors are forced to wait, to watch a woman get more sick, until her condition deteriorates to the point where it finally fits a lawyer's description of an emergency. Mothers have died waiting for care.”

Denise Lopez, Director of Nevada Campaigns, Reproductive Freedom for All, issued the following statement:

“Four years after Dobbs, Trump and his cronies in Washington are trying to ban abortion at every turn—including in Nevada—and pandering to anti-abortion groups rather than lowering costs for people in our state and helping families across the country achieve stability. But the majority of Nevadans agree your access to care should not depend on where you live or how much money you make, and we have not let up in our fight against their attacks on our reproductive rights.

Nevada voters have consistently supported reproductive freedom and rejected efforts to roll back abortion access. But as anti-abortion politicians like Governor Lombardo continue pushing a national agenda that threatens our rights, we know we cannot take those protections for granted. That is why we are working to elect pro-reproductive freedom leaders Aaron Ford, Nicole Cannizzaro, and Sandra Jauregui, and ensure the people of Nevada remain free to make their own personal health care decisions.”

Shelbie Swartz, Executive Director of Battle Born Progress, issued the following statement:

“On the fourth anniversary of the Dobbs decision, the last thing Nevadans want or need is a fundraising visit from Vice President Vance. Politicians touting the end of reproductive freedom should be voted out because they do not represent the majority of the country. Since Dobbs, too many women have fallen victim to trigger laws and bans that have made their lives incredibly difficult. As a mother myself, this issue is critical to me and others who are faced with tough reproductive decisions. No one should be forced to choose medical care based on their zip code. The decision to terminate a pregnancy should be made by women and their doctors, not politicians who will never have to make that decision themselves. Nevadans will continue supporting reproductive freedom for all, regardless of the whims of politicians who care solely about catering to their shrinking base.”

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