Opinion: The moral imperative to vote for reproductive freedom and against the vision of Project 2025

When it comes to securing the fundamental right to make our own reproductive health care decisions, it’s not always easy to see the connection to who we choose to represent us in government. 

But we’ve already seen that play out in states with abortion bans that were enabled by Donald Trump and his allies. And we know that they have a plan for what comes next if Trump and JD Vance are elected to the White House: Project 2025, a dangerous agenda that threatens every aspect of Nevadans’ lives, including their reproductive freedom. 

Over the course of the election cycle, many of us have heard some of the proposals outlined in the agenda: banning abortion nationwide, reversing FDA approval of the medication abortion drug mifepristone, limiting access to birth control, and even redefining the Department of Health and Human Services the “Department of Life.” 

On their face, some of these proposals are so extreme they seem outlandish. Many Americans hearing these policies for the first time would be right to think, “They can’t actually do that, can they?”

Well, they can and they will — and Donald Trump won’t need Congress to do so.

Since the overturning of Roe v. Wade, we have seen abortion rights take center stage in political discourse and for good reason. Trump abortion bans in 20 states are denying pregnant people and their families essential reproductive health care. Patients seeking abortion are forced to travel, if they can even afford it, hundreds or even thousands of miles for care or else carry their pregnancy to term. 

Others facing serious and life-threatening complications have been forced to wait until their conditions are so dire that they are near death, all because their doctors are threatened with criminalization for treating them “too early.” In Georgia, two women died because they could not safely get the abortion care they needed — and they likely aren’t the only ones to have been murdered by these cruel laws. 

While those stories might feel far away from Nevada, they could soon become reality if Donald Trump is elected president. Under a second Trump presidency, the future is bleak for anyone who doesn’t fit their mold, including women, LGBTQ+ people, Black and Latino people, and people who are immigrants to this country.  

This election, Nevadans have one shot at stopping politicians with ties to Project 2025, including U.S. Senate candidate Sam Brown, from ever taking office. We need to tell politicians like them that we have had enough. We will not let them use Project 2025 to take us back half a century or more. We won’t let them threaten our health, our lives, and our communities.  

This November, Nevadans must vote for Vice President Kamala Harris and Governor Tim Walz. We must vote to re-elect a tried and true champion for our rights Sen. Jacky Rosen. And we must vote to enshrine the right to abortion in our state constitution and for state and local candidates up and down the ballot who understand the power they hold over our everyday lives. 

The future of our democracy depends on it.