LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — It’s been a year and a half since the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in the Dobbs v. Jackson case, which ultimately overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade decision and opened the floodgates for states to pass legislation banning or restricting abortion.
Abortion access remains intact in Nevada, though, thanks to a 1990 voter referendum that safeguarded abortion rights for up to 24 weeks of pregnancy.
“We want to make sure that those patients know that here in southern Nevada, they are welcome and they are safe,” said Adrienne Mansanares, the CEO of Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains, which covers a region spanning several western states, including Nevada.
READ MORE: Nevada reacts to Supreme Court overturn of Roe v. Wade
Nevada’s policies preserving abortion access are why women from abortion-restrictive states continue to flock to the silver state for care, even 1.5 years post-Roe. Mansanares said the number of out-of-state patients seeking abortion services at Planned Parenthood’s southern Nevada clinics has tripled since the 2022 SCOTUS ruling, and that demand remains steady.
“About half of the patients that are accessing abortion care are coming from out of state. The majority of those folks are traveling all the way from Texas,” Mansanares said as she detailed what Planned Parenthood’s two southern Nevada clinics are seeing.
Women aren’t just coming here from states like Texas, though. Some are coming from places where it’s still legal, showing how abortion laws affect patients and providers even outside the jurisdictions they govern.
“We see patients in our Las Vegas health center that may have traveled from Colorado or New Mexico, where abortion care is available, it’s accessible, but the appointments have been blocked out by people who are traveling,” she said.
Mansanares said Planned Parenthood recognizes the lengthy journey many women make to come to Nevada for abortion care, adding that many of them already have children and are tasked with not only finding transportation and lodging but childcare, too. Furthermore, many advocates feared the overturning of Roe v. Wade would affect minority women most acutely, and Mansanares said that’s evident in the women they’re seeing making cross-country journeys to Nevada for care. Mansanares said they’ve taken extra care over the last year to make their clinics inviting for those patients who’ve made the long trek to Nevada, offering refreshments upon their arrival. She said they’ve also worked with a network of private donors who’ve helped sponsor women’s journeys for abortion care post-Roe.
READ THE LATEST: Supreme Court to hear abortion pill case that challenges FDA approval
To accommodate the surge they’re seeing at their clinics, Planned Parenthood has hired more staff and increased telehealth services, freeing up space for out-of-state patients in their Nevada clinics.
Mansanares adds that wait times have improved since the Supreme Court’s consequential ruling in 2022, back when it could have taken as long as 21 days to get an appointment.
“I am so proud that we have reduced that wait time to less than 3 days at this point, and we even have walk-ins that come in that we’re able to help with a medication abortion. We’ll figure it out,” Mansanares said.
While abortion access has been decided in Nevada — at least for now — it’s expected to be on the ballot in other states in 2024, and those decisions can directly impact clinics and patients here in the valley.
A recent Review-Journal letter to the editor mischaracterized Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto’s Southern Nevada Economic Development and Conservation Act, also known as the Clark County Lands bill. As the former executive director of the Nevada Conservation League, I wholeheartedly support this legislation, so I wanted to set the record straight.
Sen. Cortez Masto has been working on this bill for years in partnership with state and local governments, conservation groups like the NCL and local area tribes. It’s true that the Clark County lands bill would open 25,000 acres to help Las Vegas grow responsibly, while setting aside 2 million acres for conservation. It would also help create more affordable housing throughout the valley while ensuring our treasured public spaces can be preserved for generations to come.
What is not correct is that the money from these land sales would go to the federal government’s coffers. In fact, the opposite is true.
The 1998 Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act is a landmark bill that identified specific public land for future sale and created a special account ensuring all land sale revenues would come back to Nevada. In accordance with that law 5 percent of revenue from land transfers goes to the state of Nevada for general education purposes, 10 percent goes to the Southern Nevada Water Authority for needed water infrastructure and 85 percent supports conservation and environmental mitigation projects in Southern Nevada. This legislation has provided billions to Clark County and will continue to benefit generations of Southern Nevadans. Sen. Cortez Masto’s lands bill builds upon the act’s success.
So here’s the good news: All of the money generated from land made available for sale under Sen. Cortez Masto’s bill would be sent to the special account created by the 1998 law. Rather than going to an unaccountable federal government, the proceeds would continue to help kids in Vegas get a better education, bolster outdoor recreation and modernize Southern Nevada’s infrastructure.
I know how important it is that money generated from the sale of public land in Nevada stay in the hands of Nevadans, and so does the senator. That’s why she opposed a Republican effort last year to sell off 200,000 acres of land in Clark County and other areas of the country that would have sent those dollars directly to Washington.
Public land management in Nevada should benefit Nevadans. We should protect sacred cultural sites and beloved recreation spaces, responsibly transfer land for affordable housing when needed and ensure our state has the resources it needs to grow sustainably. I will continue working with Sen. Cortez Masto to advocate for legislation, such as the Clark County lands bill, that puts the needs of Nevadans first.
Paul Selberg writes from Las Vegas.
click to expand photos
Las Vegas High’s baseball team claimed a 3-2 home win over Coronado on Friday.
Las Vegas (9-13-1) next hosts Rancho at 10 a.m. Saturday. Coronado (13-14) hosts Chaparral at 3:30 p.m. Monday.
Contact Alex Wright at awright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlexWright1028 on X.
LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — Nevada’s jobless rate is holding steady, but the state is still adding jobs.
A new report from DETR shows February’s unemployment rate unchanged at 5.3 percent, with the labor force growing by nearly 3,800 people.
MORE ON FOX5: Nevada unemployment rate rises to 5.3% in January
Nevada now has about 1.6 million nonfarm jobs, up 2.2 percent over the past year and 1,500 more jobs than in January.
“This month’s report shows a strengthening labor market,” said David Schmidt, Chief Economist. ”Compared to the report for January, the pace of job gains in the past year increased from 1.9% to 2.2%, building on what was already the fastest pace of job growth in the country. While the unemployment rate remained stable, the labor force participation rate rose to 63.7%, 1.7 percentage points higher than the national level.”
In Las Vegas, employment ticked up by 1,100 jobs in February, about 0.1 percent, and is up more than 25,000 jobs compared to last year.
Reno added 1,000 jobs on the month, while Carson City shed about 200 but is still slightly above where it was a year ago.
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