Planned Parenthood sues Nevada over 40-year abortion law

By The Center Square  

A 40-year-old dormant law requiring Nevada minors to notify parents before an abortion was enacted for the first time Tuesday evening.

In anticipation on Monday, Planned Parenthood launched a lawsuit to block the dormant law, Senate Bill 510, and to return the permanent injunction that had kept the 1985 law from being enforced.

“For decades, unmarried and unemancipated adolescents have been allowed to and trusted to make decisions related to their pregnancies without forced parental involvement or judicial involvement,” read the Planned Parenthood complaint to Nevada’s Eighth Judicial District Court.

After SB 510 was passed in 1985, it was quickly muzzled with a permanent injunction because it violated the landmark Roe V. Wade decision. When the Supreme Court overturned the 1973 federal right to abortion in 2022, it opened the door for state laws like SB 510.

But the law’s revival would see the statewide understanding of teenage abortion rights changed. Unmarried and unemancipated minors would be required to tell their parents about a decision to have an abortion. It would not require the parent’s approval.

An estimated 18 percent of abortions nationally are performed on teenagers, as per a 2016 study. Asked what they would do if forced to tell a parent before an abortion, 9 percent of teenagers said they would instead conduct the dangerous procedure themselves. Laws requiring parental notification are currently present in 36 states.

The 1985 law was set to be implemented in April, but was placed on hold for Planned Parenthood’s appeal.

The law was brought back to the state’s attention in 2024 when two district attorneys from Lyon County and Carson City successfully argued for the law to be enforced. A July 18 ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit did away with the temporary pause sought by Planned Parenthood.

“[Planned Parenthood] failed to establish serious questions going to the merits on its argument,” read the order by the San Francisco-based appeals court.

Planned Parenthood’s lawsuit from Monday argued that delays in abortions from notifying a minor’s parents could make the otherwise safe abortion procedure more dangerous. The suit also said that of the relatively few minors who have abortions without informing their parents, most do so for “reasons associated with their safety and well-being.”

Nevada Democratic and Republican leaders have remained quiet on the lawsuit. Assembly Majority Leader Sandra Jauregui and State Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro, both D-Clark County, and Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo did not respond to a request for comment by The Center Square.