As good As A mile Elsewhere in that same 1993 speech, Ginsburg made reference to recent events, which likely included the 1990 Nevada referendum when Nevada women got out in front of the problem. She said: “The most recent [Casey] decision, although a retreat from Roe, appears to have prompted renewed dialogue, a revival of the political movement in progress in the early 1970s. That renewed dialogue, one may hope, will, within a relatively short span, yield an enduring resolution of this vital matter.” What had happened in Nevada certainly suggested a course of action for other states, where politicians similarly took the safe, anti-abortion stance and assumed the public approved. Sue Wagner, elected Nevada lieutenant governor in the same election when Nevadans voted for legal abortion and a principal in the refeendum, did some missionary work among officials of other states, to make sure they knew what happened with the referendum and its value in removing abortion as
an issue from election campaigns. At meetings of groups like the National Conference of State Legislatures, she raised the matter as something that could work in their states. Just over half the states have referendum laws. Not all those states were fertile ground for ballot measures on abortion, but some states were. And politicians weary of the abortion issue would likely have seen what was in it for them. Had women in several states launched referendums, it would have sent a powerful message, revitalized the listless abortion movement and gotten a whole new generation involved. But no such thing happened. There was always resistance, and the national organizations never changed their reluctance to trust in popular support. Meanwhile, justices of the U.S. Supreme Court kept retiring and kept being replaced, moving the court closer and closer to an anti-Roe majority. Political scientist Lokken said of the abortion issue: “In a lot of those states, they would have taken it off the table. They missed a real opportunity.” Ω
Nevada’s Sue Wagner could not interest other states in using referendum laws to protect abortion. PHOTO/deserT researcH insTiTuTe
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