SUBMITTED NEWS RELEASE
Nevada Advocates for Planned Parenthood Affiliates announces its support for pro-choice candidates in the Nevada general election. By supporting these candidates, NAPPA is working to ensure comprehensive reproductive health care services and education for anyone in need.
“Many states have passed laws restricting women’s access to legal abortion or family planning. Initiative petition efforts, including the one thrown off the ballot by the District Court in Nevada, would outlaw most forms of birth control as well as fertility treatments. We can not take our right to access health care and family planning for granted. Nevada is a pro-choice state. That’s why we’re endorsing and working to elect pro-choice candidates who will represent us and work to protect women,” said Elisa Cafferata, president and CEO of NAPPA.
In Nevada, 54 percent of Republican voters are pro-choice and nearly 80 percent of Democratic voters are pro-choice. While voters may not think of choice top-of-mind when voting (jobs, education, health care and government funding), they do use a candidate’s stance on choice as a deal breaker in determining votes.
As the lobbying and political arm for Planned Parenthood, NAPPA works to elect candidates and enact policies in order to protect women’s health. NAPPA surveys candidates to assess their level of support for reproductive health. The candidates are then given a rating based on their answers to the survey as well as public comments and voting records.
In order for a candidate to be rated as pro-choice, they must support legal abortion and oppose restrictions which would limit access to care. Pro-choice candidates support coverage of reproductive health services. They also must support minors’ access to confidential health care services and support comprehensive sexual education in public school.
As essential community providers, Planned Parenthood’s five health Nevada centers offer (1) medical services for uninsured or low-income clients, (2) community-based education programs and (3) advocacy for reproductive freedom and health care access.
Increasing access to reproductive health services is critical in Nevada. Nevada has the second highest rate of uninsured residents in the nation, leaving women without access to prenatal care, family planning and other reproductive health care services. Women’s health is put at risk by policies that restrict access to medical care or services or specific providers.
More than 150,000 Nevadan women could not afford to pay for basic reproductive health care such as breast and cervical cancer screenings, anemia, diabetes and high blood pressure checks, safe-sex counseling, contraceptive services and referrals to specialized health care. Studies show that every $1 invested in family planning and contraception creates a $5 savings for the state in pregnancies prevented.
Nevada ranks second in the U.S. for teen pregnancy, in part because young people do not have access to comprehensive sex education in schools. Further, young people do not have appropriate access to birth control and reproductive health information.
NAPPA is an independent, bi-partisan, not-for-profit 501(c)(4) organization. NAPPA engages in educational and electoral activity including voter education campaigns, grassroots organizing and legislative advocacy. NAPPA works with the national Acton Fund to leverage resources to win elections and pass laws that benefit Nevada’s women and their families.
NAPPA’s voter guide is here,. For additional information, www.NevadaAdvocates.org.
