VICTOR JOECKS: Nevada Democrats support partial-birth abortion

Nevada Democrats support partial-birth abortion. They just don’t like to mention it.

Earlier this month, a coalition including Planned Parenthood and the ACLU of Nevada filed an initiative petition to enshrine abortion rights in the Nevada Constitution. The initiative is so broadly written that it would legalize third-trimester abortions, including partial-birth abortions.

Lest you think this is an exaggeration, look at the proposed language. “Every individual has a fundamental right to reproductive freedom, which entails the right to make and effectuate decisions about … abortion [and] abortion care,” it reads. This supposed right “shall not be denied, burdened or infringed upon unless justified by a compelling State interest that is achieved by the least restrictive means available.”

A “compelling state interest” is “limited exclusively to the State’s interest in protecting the health of an individual who is seeking reproductive health care.”

That would legalize abortion up to the point of birth, including full-term abortions. It should be obvious that a full-term baby is capable of living outside the womb.

Here are the details on partial- birth abortion. A pre-born baby is delivered feet first. The baby is outside the mother’s birth canal except for his or her head. The abortionist uses scissors to puncture the base of the baby’s skull and vacuums out the baby’s brains. The baby’s skull collapses. The abortionist then delivers the now-dead baby.

Morally, that’s infanticide. Partial-birth abortion is barbaric and vile. It also repulses the public. National polling shows support for abortion in the first trimester. After that, the public generally opposes elective abortions.

Partial-birth abortion is such an atrocity that it’s hard to find current polling on it. In 2003, President George W. Bush signed a ban on it. A Gallup poll back then found the public overwhelmingly opposed the procedure, 68 percent to 25 percent. It also found just 10 percent support for abortion in the third trimester.

Democrats know this isn’t popular. Following the first Republican primary debate, former White House press secretary Jen Psaki wrote on X, “No one supports abortion up until birth.”

But Nevada Democrats do. State Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro wrote on X that she is “fully in support” of this initiative. She’s not alone. Every legislative Democrat voted for a nearly identical constitutional amendment in the past legislative session.

Even this initiative takes pains to disguise what it legalizes. The initiative pretends to allow Nevada to regulate abortion care after fetal viability. But it contains an enormous and intentional loophole. Nevada can’t prohibit abortions done to protect the mental health of the “pregnant individual.”

Notice that language. The initiative doesn’t just legalize the killing of full–term babies. It erases the word “woman.” News flash to the party of science: Men can’t get pregnant.

Imagine if the National Rifle Association wrote an initiative to legalize firearm ownership and defined the term so broadly that it included grenades, tanks and fully automatic machine guns. All Democrats would talk about is the extreme part of the proposal. They wouldn’t be scared to attack it, because most firearm owners want rifles and pistols.

But it’s unclear if Republicans will do the same. Their losing strategy has been to run away from this issue like the knights in Monty Python. Look at 2022. That plan didn’t keep Democrats from attacking Republicans on this issue relentlessly.

Republicans should have the courage — or at least the electoral self-interest — to point out the obvious. Democrats are backing a radical proposal even if you support legalized abortion in the first or second trimester.

Contact Victor Joecks at vjoecks@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4698. Follow @victorjoecks on X.