GOP Senate Candidate Has No Respect for Women’s Reproductive Freedom

By Sue Burtch

Sunday, July 21, 2024 | 02:00 AM

In a recent op-ed in the Las Vegas Sun, Republican Senate candidate Sam Brown made the outrageous claim that the overturning of Roe v. Wade actually “strengthened Nevada’s protections for abortion.”

Brown’s claim highlights his deep-seated lack of understanding of the issue of choice. For Brown to say that this has in any way been good for reproductive freedom is absurd and insulting.

The reality is that the Dobbs ruling, which overturned Roe v. Wade, has been a terrible disaster for women and families — in Nevada and across our country. Our reproductive rights have been severely violated and continue to be under attack.

As executive director of Nevada NOW, I’ve seen and heard from women who have faced the terrible consequences of a post-Roe world. Twenty-one states across the country have passed abortion bans or restrictions since Dobbs, including Arizona, Utah, and Idaho—all of which border Nevada. Women, even young girls, have been victims of rape or incest and have become pregnant as a result, only to be denied the reproductive health services that once protected them because of the Dobbs ruling.

Let’s be clear: Dobbs has jeopardized Nevada’s reproductive freedom. Yes, we’re a proudly pro-choice state; but without the federal protections that Roe gave us — protections that Sam has repeatedly railed against — it would be far too easy for anti-choice extremists like him to strip away the state-level protections that Nevada thankfully has.

Brown was a strong supporter of an abortion ban in Texas with no exceptions for rape or incest, which was considered one of the “toughest restrictions in the country.” Brown also managed the political campaign of a “100% pro-life, no exceptions” candidate for Congress in Texas.

Just two years ago, Brown ran for Senate in Nevada on an anti-abortion platform that included banning abortion with no exceptions for victims of rape or incest, and left the door open to supporting a federal ban. After losing that race, he became the local chairman of a national anti-abortion group that called Roe v. Wade a “moral atrocity.”

Brown has said his anti-abortion positions are “non-negotiable,” and even now, with a measure on the ballot in November that would further strengthen protections for Nevada’s reproductive freedom, Brown refuses to answer whether he would support it — because it’s clear he wouldn’t.

Before the Dobbs decision, many thought that the protections of Roe v. Wade would last forever. Numerous far-right justices promised the American people that the issue was settled and Roe was the law of the land—until they overturned it. Now Brown appears to be pulling the exact same scam. I don’t believe it, and neither should you.

This November, Nevadans have a choice. We can entrust our reproductive freedoms to someone like incumbent Senator Jacky Rosen, who has a lifelong record of supporting women’s freedom to make their own health care decisions, or the promises of Brown, whose past words and actions show that he cannot be trusted to stand up for our reproductive rights. Rosen is a candidate endorsed by the National NOW PAC.

I urge all Nevadans to make a careful choice.

Sue Burtch is executive director of Nevada NOW, the state chapter of the National Organization for Women network.