Nevada abortion rights group launches $1M campaign on ballot measure

A leading abortion rights group in Nevada is launching a $1 million ad campaign to mobilize voters around a ballot initiative to enshrine abortion protections into the state constitution.

Abortion is legal up to 24 weeks after conception in the state, thanks to a 2024 ballot initiative that passed with 64 percent of the vote. But, since the law requires a second vote to enshrine a constitutional amendment, Nevadans for Reproductive Freedom is not taking any chances.

The group’s digital ad seeks to remind Nevada voters who support abortion access to show up to the polls and vote for the measure again. Enshrining abortion protections would make it more difficult to overturn abortion access, as it would require two more rounds of voter approval across separate elections.

The ad takes aim at Gov. Joe Lombardo (R), noting he celebrated the overturning of Roe v. Wade , supported an abortion ban in the state and vetoed a bipartisan bill protecting Nevadans’ right to access birth control methods, including emergency contraceptives and IUDs.

Lombardo is locked in a tightly contested gubernatorial race with Democratic Attorney General Aaron Ford. Ford has been running with reproductive rights at the forefront of his campaign, and Cook Political Report , a nonpartisan election forecaster, rated the contest as a “toss-up.”

“Access to health care should not be up for grabs by anti-abortion politicians. Governor Joe Lombardo has repeatedly used his office to undermine reproductive freedom, violating the will of voters. In 2024, two thirds of Nevadans voted to protect abortion access, and this year is our opportunity to make those protections permanent,” Denise Lopez, president of the coalition, said in a statement.

Nevada is one of four states where voters will weigh in on abortion in November. Missouri, Virginia and Idaho are the others.

Like Nevada, Missouri is also voting on abortion protections for the second time since 2024, though the state’s Republican-dominated legislature is asking voters to overturn what voters passed just two years ago. The measure even has the same title as in 2024: Amendment 3.

Recent polls show that a majority of Americans, as much as 60 percent in some cases, think abortion should be legal in most or all cases. Reproductive rights activists have urged Democrats to lean into the issue ahead of Novembers’ midterms, holding Republicans in close races’ feet to the fire.