In Case You Missed It, new reporting from the Economist highlights how anti-choice Adam Laxalt is once again finding himself at odds with the Latino community, as access to abortion is becoming more and more important for Latinos across Nevada. The reporting emphasizes that this will “hurt Republicans, who have long campaigned against abortion,” like Laxalt. 

Laxalt called Roe v. Wade a “joke” and said the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the right to choose was a “historic victory.” As Nevada’s attorney general, Laxalt pushed to restrict access to birth control, which has earned him endorsements from extreme anti-choice organizations that have argued girls as young as 10, even in cases of rape, should not be allowed to have abortions. 

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The Economist: Abortion is an increasingly important issue for America’s Latinos

Staff // 10.13.22

Key Points: 

• New polling by the Pew Research Centre, a think-tank, suggests that the Democrats’ fight for reproductive rights might help nudge Latinos back towards the centre. Between March and August the share of Latino voters who reported that they considered abortion a very important electoral matter rose from 42% to 57%, surpassing their concerns about immigration and racial issues (see chart). That change is greater than the average shift among all registered voters.
• Although they are often mistaken for a homogeneously devout group, Latinos, like the rest of America, are becoming more secular. A majority (57%) think abortion should be legal. The share is greater among women, who tend to register and vote at higher rates than men. In August four majority-Latino counties in south-west Kansas helped tip the balance against a referendum to ban abortions in the deeply Republican state.
• This shift could hurt Republicans, who have long campaigned against abortion. The Latino vote will be particularly consequential in Nevada, where they make up nearly one-fifth of registered voters. Catherine Cortez Masto, the first (and only) Latina elected to the Senate, has made the right to an abortion a central campaign issue. 
• Ms Cortez Masto, a Democrat, says that retaining her seat—one which Republicans hope to flip to secure a Senate majority—is critical to preventing a nationwide ban. Her opponent, Adam Laxalt, a former attorney-general, called Roe v Wade “a joke” and lamented the state’s pro-choice tendencies after the Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to an abortion in June. 

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