Nevada’s Catholic governor who campaigned as ‘pro-life’ signs some abortion protections into law

Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo, a Catholic who campaigned on a pro-life stance, signed legislation in May granting some protections for those who travel to the state seeking to undergo or perform an abortion.

The move sets the Republican governor apart from his GOP counterparts in other states that signed legislation restricting abortion after the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision in June 2022 that overturned prior precedent making abortion access a constitutional right.

The bill, SB 131, effectively codified an executive order signed last year by Lombardo’s Democratic predecessor, former Gov. Steve Sisolak.

The legislation prohibits law enforcement officials and agencies from aiding in any investigations by other states into their own residents who undergo abortions in Nevada. It also prohibits state medical boards or licensing committees from penalizing doctors who perform abortions in the state.

Elizabeth Ray, a spokesperson for Lombardo, told OSV News the governor “made a campaign commitment to sign a law ensuring that Nevada would not participate in prosecuting those seeking legal medical care in the state.”

“This week, Governor Lombardo kept that commitment, signing SB 131 into law,” Ray said.

Gov. Phil Scott of Vermont and former Gov. Charlie Baker of Massachusetts, who left office in January, are other GOP governors who enacted post-Dobbs abortion protections in their states. But Lombardo is currently the only swing-state governor to do so.

Critics of the Dobbs decision, which resulted in sending the issue of abortion back to legislators, argued that states banning abortion may move to prosecute women who travel to other states where abortion is legal.

In the weeks prior to the Dobbs decision, national pro-life leaders rejected proposals that would criminalize women in any new abortion restrictions. Signatories included Jeanne Mancini, president of the March for Life national organization and its lobbying arm, and Baltimore Archbishop William E. Lori, then chairman of the Committee on Pro-Life Activities for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

“As national and state pro-life organizations, representing tens of millions of pro-life men, women and children across the country, let us be clear: We state unequivocally that any measure seeking to criminalize or punish women is not pro-life and we stand firmly opposed to such efforts,” the May 12, 2022, letter said.

The letter was published following a leak of the draft Dobbs decision before it was formally issued by the high court.

Idaho in April became the first U.S. state to enact a law criminalizing some out-of-state travel for abortions. However, that law criminalizes assisting a pregnant minor obtain an abortion in another state without the consent of a parent or guardian, prescribing two to five years prison for those convicted of an “abortion trafficking” offense.

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