Nevada lawmakers are considering a bill that would prohibit any government limitations or requirements that may block patients’ access to birth control and reproductive health services.
Assemblywoman Selena Torres (D-Las Vegas) said the Legislature “must provide clarity and assurance” to Nevadans that access to reproductive health care and contraception is protected, especially in the wake of recent federal judicial decisions including a recent ruling to suspend the sale of one of two drugs used together to cause an abortion and a decision by a Texas federal judge last December to strike down a federal provision allowing minors to access contraception without parental approval.
“We have consistently had access to contraception in the state of Nevada. Right now, there aren't barriers to access contraception — and we should continue to not have them,” Torres said Monday during a hearing for her bill, AB383, in the Assembly Health and Human Services Committee.
AB383 would create the Right to Contraception Act, which would guarantee Nevadans the right to contraception and protect health care providers who administer and prescribe it, as well as aim to expand availability of affordable care.
It also prevents governmental entities from singling out or substantially burdening access to reproductive health services, which are defined in the bill as “medical, surgical, counseling, or referral services relating to the human reproductive system.” The bill includes services for pregnancy, contraception, miscarriage, in vitro fertilization, abortion, or “any procedure or care found by a competent medical professional to be appropriate based upon the wishes of a patient and in accordance with the laws of this state.”
Torres’ bill comes as lawmakers are also considering a proposed constitutional amendment, SJR7, to guarantee “a fundamental right to reproductive freedom.” But putting that measure in a more permanent place in the constitution would require passage through two legislative sessions, then a vote of the people, while a bill such as Torres’ would only need legislative approval in one session and the governor’s signature to become law.