LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Nevada Democrats harshly criticized Republican vice presidential nominee, U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, on Monday, saying a Donald Trump-Vance administration would try to ban abortion nationwide.
Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev., and state Assemblywoman Sandra Jauregui, D-Clark County, both introduced themselves as childless cat owners, a reference to a controversy sparked when Vance said the nation was being governed by "childless cat ladies."
They were joined by clinical pharmacist Dr. Christina Madison, who warned that Trump and Vance would try to ban medication abortion, which accounts for the vast majority of abortions in the United States.
"Because this really is life-saving care," Madison said. "We still have much progress to make and we cannot afford to elect people who will take us back to the 1800s."
Texas resident Ryan Hamilton told the story of his wife, who nearly died after the couple's second child died in the womb. Bleeding and in pain, she was given an abortion drug that failed to work. A different doctor at the same clinic refused to provide a second prescription, forcing the couple to travel to another hospital about an hour away from their home.
But doctors there refused to perform an abortion procedure, Hamilton said, because they were in fear of a Texas law that could see physicians end up in jail for performing abortions.
"They knew my wife was still bleeding. They knew there had been no fetal heartbeat for over a week," Hamilton said. "They knew the risks of infection and sepsis, but they didn't want to risk criminal prosecution because in Texas, they can be thrown in prison for life for providing abortion care."
But things got worse when Hamilton found his wife unconscious on the floor of their bathroom.
"I'll never forget lifting her cold, limp body off that bathroom floor," he recalled. "Yelling 'Can you hear me?' I placed our daughter in the car seat and my wife in the passenger seat, still unconscious, still bleeding. Hazards [lights] on I drove to the hospital as fast as I could. I ran to the emergency entrance and screamed for help. They rushed out and wheeled my wife inside.
"As I held our little girl, numbly filling out paperwork, a nurse approached. 'Thank God you brought her when you did.' That's what she said. I guess my wife was finally close enough to death to deserve help."
Although both Trump and Vance have taken harsher stances on abortion in the past — Trump once said there should be punishments for women who get abortions and Vance has expressed support for a national abortion ban — they now say abortion should be left to the states.
A statement released by the Trump campaign reads: "President Trump has long been consistent in supporting the rights of states to make decisions on abortion. [Vice President] Kamala Harris and the Democrats are radically out of touch with the majority of Americans in their support for abortion up until birth and even after birth, and forcing taxpayers to fund it."
But Titus countered that embracing states rights still discriminates against women in some places.
"So leaving it to the states means you support the worst and most restrictive of all the laws that have been passed," she said. "Furthermore, why would you say that a woman in Texas should have fewer rights than a woman in Minnesota or a woman in Georgia? It makes no sense whatsoever."
Titus said that even with Nevada's voter-ratified abortion rights statute — which cannot be changed except by a vote of the people — a national abortion ban would create conflicts with state laws that would end up in court. "And who knows what the consequences will be then, and it will be long and drawn out," Titus said.
Voters in November will get the chance to begin amending Nevada's constitution to protect abortion rights; if approved this year, it would have to appear on the ballot again in 2026 to go into effect.
Vance will visit both Reno and Henderson on Tuesday, before heading to the neighboring swing state of Arizona to campaign. Although most of the focus on the 2024 campaign has centered on the so-called Blue Wall states of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan, Nevada and Arizona are swing states that could affect both parties' path to the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency.
Harris has visited Nevada six times this year alone. Former President Donald Trump has also held rallies in the state, most recently at Sunset Park in June.
