Caroline Mello Roberson

For many people, the decision of when and whether to become a parent is one of the most significant choices they will make. Nevadans spoke loudly and clearly nearly 29 years ago when they overwhelmingly approved a ballot measure affirming our state abortion statute, which guarantees that Nevadans should have all reproductive choices available to them, noting that these choices are personal and should be free from government interference.

Adam Laxalt, Republican candidate for governor, has been evasive and inconsistent on where he stands on Nevada women’s constitutionally protected right to make decisions about their own lives, bodies and futures — including the right to use contraception or have an abortion. Asked in a questionnaire by the Reno Gazette-journal last April whether abortion rights should always be legal for Nevadans, Laxalt refused to answer, calling it an “extremist wording” of the question. One day after the June primary election, Laxalt said in a TV interview that he would “look into” repealing the voter-approved measure affirming abortion rights, and called Democratic candidate Steve Sisolak “extreme” for his commitment to reproductive freedom for all Nevadans.

After the interview, his campaign team tried to walk that back, first claiming that Laxalt could not hear the reporter, then that the comments were taken out of context.

After the news station released the