Alongside the economy, abortion proved to be pivotal in the 2022 general election, which defied historic trends and polling that foretold a red wave in Congress.

Nevada Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto’s projected victory over Republican opponent Adam Laxalt secured Democrats’ control of the Senate. Though House control remained undecided at press time, reports say the issue carried several Democratic candidates to victory in the midterms, which typically generate opposition to the sitting president’s party.

After Cortez Masto’s race was called, the senator re-affirmed her commitment to protecting the right to abortion in Nevada, and fighting against a national abortion ban that has been introduced in Congress.

“Six years ago, when you elected me to the U.S. Senate, I cast the deciding vote to protect health care for millions of Americans,” Cortez Masto said during her November 13 victory speech at the Carpenters International Training Center. “I am ready for more tough fights like that. So when Republicans try to force through a federal abortion ban, I’m going to stop them.”

Though reproductive rights advocates can take comfort that the majority of Nevada’s congressional delegation will fight against any infringement on Nevada’s abortion protections, concerns remain that pro-life gubernatorial candidate Joe Lombardo, the projected winner, will attempt to restrict access or erect barriers to abortion statewide.

Although the Clark County sheriff has said he respects the will of Nevadans, who established the right to abortion by ballot question in 1990, Lindsey Harmon, executive director of Planned Parenthood Votes Nevada, says there’s “always a risk.”

“The talking point when [the U.S. Supreme Court] overturned Roe v. Wade was that they were going to turn it back to the States, which we knew was a smoke screen for their real intention [to] impose a federal abortion ban. And then Lindsey Graham came right out and said it,” she says, adding that U.S. Supreme Court justices Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett are “good examples” of officials who said they would not interfere with abortion laws and then cast votes to the contrary once they’d been confirmed.

“You’ve got all these congressional candidates rolling back their position on Roe—really so that they can get elected to office and then follow the party [to] enact this ban,” Harmon says. “That is what is at stake and has been at stake in this election the entire time.”

Voters established the right to an abortion up to the 24-week mark via ballot question, meaning it can be overturned only by a direct majority vote of the people.

Following June’s overturning of Roe v. Wade and its longtime federal protections, abortion became a key campaign issue heading into the midterms. Democrats and their campaigns presented abortion as something Republicans would attempt to restrict and ban nationwide, while Republicans and their supporters ran ads arguing that abortion isn’t endangered in Nevada and that politicians were attempting to “scare” voters with a non-issue.

“There are a lot of things outside of what is currently in our statute, which gubernatorial candidates, elected officials or a state legislature certainly could enact, which would influence how abortion is accessed in that state,” Harmon says. As examples, she mentions requiring physicians to prescribe medication abortion (and excluding midlevel providers), making it more difficult for providers to become licensed, and supporting “trap laws” such as mandatory waiting periods and ultrasound requirements, which create barriers to access.

Outgoing Gov. Steve Sisolak’s executive order provides a different example. Just days after the Supreme Court ruling, the governor ordered Nevada not to provide information or assist any state seeking to prosecute abortion providers or patients. Harmon and other advocates, including the Nevada-based Wild West Access Fund, have said the order permitted abortions to continue freely in the state—at a time when providers were experiencing an influx of out-of-state patients.

In the months since, Lombardo and his campaign have waffled on whether the order will stay in place after his inauguration. He reportedly told a Reno TV station in August that he “absolutely” would look into repealing the order. The following month, he walked that statement back.

“Months ago, I said I would evaluate repealing an executive order that I believed at the time and continue to believe was nothing more than political theater,” reads a September 27 statement on Lombardo’s campaign website. “However, because there are efforts in other states that could impact Nevadans, I have made a commitment not to repeal that executive order until the Legislature can make clear that Nevada is not going to prosecute women who seek an abortion or medical providers that provide legal abortions.”

On November 14, a Lombardo campaign spokeswoman said the governor-elect “stands by his position” and referred to that September 27 website statement. And in October, Lombardo told the Reno Gazette Journal that, if presented by the state Legislature, he would sign a bill to codify protections for providers and out-of-state patients in statute.

Reproductive rights advocates also celebrated the re-election of Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford, who has been outspoken about protecting those rights. At press time, a spokesman for the attorney general said in an email that, “The election has not changed our position. Our office will not help states prosecute those coming to Nevada to seek reproductive health care legal under Nevada state law.”

Projections of a Democratic supermajority in the Nevada Legislature are also heartening for advocates. According to the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, that will be essential for maintaining existing reproductive rights in the state.

“Nevada Democrats just gained a supermajority in the Assembly, maintaining a woman-majority chamber in an election that was defined by protecting abortion rights,” reads a press release from the committee. “Nevada Democrats already secured a majority in both chambers, and this supermajority will play a crucial role in keeping incoming Republican Governor Joe Lombardo’s dangerous agenda in check.”

With so much at stake, Harmon says her political advocacy branch launched the “largest midterm program ever,” and knocked on more than 176,000 doors to speak with voters about their top issues and abortion. In addition to Planned Parenthood, NARAL Pro-Choice America ran its “largest-ever” midterm mobilization effort, putting $2.2 million toward ads in Nevada and other battleground states “aimed at educating voters about the importance of reproductive freedom.”

Democrats spent nearly $415 million on ads supporting abortion rights, according to The New York Times. Despite some criticism that Democrats might have erred by not focusing enough on the economy—undoubtedly Americans’ No. 1 concern in the 2022 general election—the strategy paid off for Democrats and pro-choice advocates in all states that had ballot measures related to abortion access in 2022: Kansas, California, Kentucky, Michigan, Montana and Vermont.

“We really invested,” Harmon says. “While folks are certainly concerned about the economy, they also really care about bodily autonomy and access to reproductive health care.”

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