[VIDEO] Laxalt Promised To “Have That Debate” On Abortion And When Asked If He Was Planning To Propose A Referendum To Overturn Question 7, Laxalt Said “We Are Going To Look Into It.” According to KOLOTV, “But in the past five months, Nevada’s Attorney General has filed friend-of-the-court briefs, asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a California law requiring crisis pregnancy centers to inform women of their options. In March, another AMICUS brief was filed to an appeals court, asking it to uphold a Texas law outlawing 2nd trimester abortions. ‘We pay him to do the work of our state,’ says Hawkins. ‘You know I’m going to err on the side of life,’ says Adam Laxalt. We talked to Attorney General Laxalt after winning his party’s nomination for Nevada governor about his legal filings on behalf of Nevadans. Does Nevada have a dog in that fight does it? ‘We are going to have many months to talk about this. The bottom line is my opponents have been very clear in the last many months they are incredibly extreme on abortion. We are going to have plenty of time to have that debate,’ says Laxalt. But you can’t change it without a vote of the people. ‘We are happy to talk about that in the coming months,’ replied Laxalt. ‘Are you planning on doing that as governor? Would you propose a referendum for voters to vote on that? Because that is how it has to change in Nevada.’ ‘We are going to look into it,’ says Laxalt.” [KOLOTV, 6/13/18]
[VIDEO] Laxalt Said Nevada Was “Gonna Look Into It” When Asked About Question 7. Adam Laxalt is attempting to open the abortion debate after decades of a freeze on abortion laws. Now, Adam Laxalt wants to take up the issue again. In 1990, Question 7 left the state’s abortion laws as is, unless there was a referendum to overturn it. Question 7 passed by over 60% of the vote. In the last five months, Adam Laxalt filed an amicus brief asking the SCOTUS to overturn California’s law requiring Crisis Pregnancy Centers to inform women of their termination options. Laxalt filed another brief in support of a Texas law outlawing second trimester terminations. After winning his nomination, Laxalt discussed his filings: “We’re going to have many months to talk about this, the bottom line is my opponents have been very clear in the last many months, they’re incredibly extreme on abortion. We’re going to have plenty of time to have that debate.” When reminded the issue would have to be changed by referendum Laxalt smiled adding, “We’re gonna look into it.” Despite Laxalt frequently sending press releases for various Friend of the Court briefs, his office did not send out any releases in the two abortion-related cases. [KOLO (ABC). 6/13/18]
Laxalt Joined A Brief In Defense Of A Texas Law Banning A Common Second-Trimester Abortion Procedure. According to Nevada Independent, “Attorney General Adam Laxalt has signed on to an amicus brief defending a Texas law that bans the most common method of abortion used in the second trimester. Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry announced Friday that Nevada is among a 25-state coalition that filed an amicus brief in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. Texas lawmakers had passed a law in 2017 banning abortion through the dilation and evacuation method — in which the cervix is dilated and the fetus is removed in pieces with forceps or other instruments and suction — unless the heart is stopped through drugs. […] Laxalt has said he is pro-life, but has not answered questions about whether he would seek to implement greater restrictions on abortion in Nevada, such as an ultrasound requirement, parental notification or a waiting period. His campaign did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday evening about whether he would support or sponsor a ban on dilation and evacuation abortions if elected governor.” [Nevada Independent, 3/14/18]
January 2018: Laxalt Signed Onto An Amicus Brief In Support Of Anti-Choice Challenges To California’s Regulation Of Crisis Pregnancy Centers. According to Nevada Independent, “Pro-life pregnancy clinics that are the subject of a fight over abortion in Nevada’s gubernatorial election took center stage in the Supreme Court on Tuesday, with the justices raising concerns about the free-speech rights of California clinics forced to notify patrons of abortion alternatives. […] Republican Attorney General and gubernatorial candidate Adam Laxalt signed on to an amicus brief in January with conservative attorneys general supporting the pro-life group suing California over the law.” [Nevada Independent, 3/21/18]
Laxalt Wrote A Letter Requesting Nevada’s Planned Parenthood Affiliates To Confirm Their Offices Do Not Perform Surgical Abortions. According to Las Vegas Review-Journal, “Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt has waded into the Planned Parenthood fetal tissue debate, sending a letter to the group’s state affiliates asking for confirmation that they do not perform surgical abortions at their offices. […] Laxalt said the group’s Nevada websites say the only medical abortion procedures performed involve the use of a pill up to 10 weeks into a pregnancy that results in the termination of a pregnancy at home. ‘Therefore, it would leave one to conclude that such circumstances would not allow the Nevada PP facilities to have or participate in tissue donation programs,’ Laxalt said in the letter. ‘Please confirm in writing that the Nevada facilities do not provide surgical abortions.’” [Las Vegas Review-Journal, 9/20/15]
The Letter Came After The Release Of Videos Alleging Potential Donations Of Fetal Tissue. According to Las Vegas Review-Journal, “The letter, dated Sept. 15, points to videos released by a group called the Center for Medical Progress that allege potential violations regarding tissue donations from aborted fetuses from Planned Parenthood affiliates in other jurisdictions.” [Las Vegas Review-Journal, 9/20/15]
Laxalt Also Requested The Affiliates To Confirm They Don’t Participate In Fetal Tissue Donations. According to Las Vegas Review-Journal, “Laxalt also asked for confirmation the affiliates do not participate in tissue donation and that the Nevada facilities are in full compliance with state and federal laws and regulations.” [Las Vegas Review-Journal, 9/20/15]
Democrats Criticized Laxalt Over The Move, Accusing Him Of Using His Office To Push A Partisan Agenda
Democrats Accused Laxalt Of Using His Office To Advance His “Blind Ambition And Partisan Ideological Agenda.” According to Las Vegas Review-Journal, “The Nevada State Democratic Party accused Laxalt, a Republican, of pushing a ‘partisan ideological agenda.’ ‘Nevada women who rely on the preventative health care services Planned Parenthood provides are not pawns to be used by Adam Laxalt to burnish his Republican primary credentials in his inevitable future runs for higher office,’ spokesman Zach Hudson said. ‘Adam Laxalt should stop using his office to advance his blind ambition and partisan, ideological agenda.’” [Las Vegas Review-Journal, 9/20/15]
Laxalt Closed The Inquiry Months After The Clinic Confirmed They Did Not Perform Abortions Or Partake In Fetal Tissue Donation Programs. According to Nevada Independent, “He closed the inquiry a few months later after Planned Parenthood clinics in Las Vegas confirmed their facilities don’t perform surgical abortions or participate in fetal tissue donation programs.” [Nevada Independent, 1/27/18]
2014: Laxalt Appointed VanDyke As Nevada’s Solicitor General
2014: Laxalt Hired Lawrence VanDyke, Who Opposed State And Federal Gun Control And Legal Same-Sex Marriage, To The Position Of Nevada Solicitor General. According to Las Vegas Review-Journal, “Incoming Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt on Wednesday named a solicitor general for his office, choosing a conservative Republican who actively opposed state and federal gun control, abortion and legal same-sex marriage when he held the same job in Montana.” [Las Vegas Review-Journal, 12/11/14]
VanDyke Argued Roe V. Wade Should Be Reconsidered In Light Of “Recent, Compelling Evidence Of Fetal Pain.” According to Las Vegas Review-Journal, “‘In one brief he wrote with Mr. Fox, they argued that Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision preserving a woman’s right to an abortion, should be reconsidered in the light of ‘recent, compelling evidence of fetal pain,’’ the Times reported. ‘But he quit in May after conflicts with colleagues.’ The Times asked VanDyke about criticism that he was trying to hide his conservative views from voters. ‘I am running on the platform that I am going to follow the law regardless of my personal preferences,’ he responded.” [Las Vegas Review-Journal, 12/11/14]
VanDyke Compared Pregnant Women To Animals To Further His Anti-Choice Agenda. According to Montana Cowgirl Blog, “Suggesting that if it applies to animals, it applies to women, VanDyke sent an email from his state government account to an Ohio attorney recommending that Ohio amend an amicus brief to reference animal pain statutes to bolster the case against women’s medical privacy in Ohio. You can read VanDyke’s email and his edits to the referenced amicus brief here.” [Montana Cowgirl Blog, 10/16/14]