Nevada parental notification abortion law in effect; Planned Parenthood
lawsuit seeks halt
[July 24, 2025]
By TABITHA MUELLER AND ANNIE VONG/The Nevada Independent
A 40-year-old Nevada law requiring minors having an abortion to first
notify their parents or guardians is now in effect for the first time,
after a federal district court judge lifted an administrative block
Tuesday afternoon.
The one-page order from District Court Judge Anne Traum came after a
federal appellate judge earlier this week opted not to temporarily pause
implementation of the never-enforced 1985 law while the federal appeal
proceeds.
In anticipation of the law going into effect, Planned Parenthood Mar
Monte filed a new lawsuit in state court Monday seeking to halt its
implementation.
The California-based abortion rights group and health care provider, and
a physician using the pseudonym Dr. Doe, filed a complaint for
injunctive relief in Clark County’s District Court on Monday. They argue
the 1985 law, SB510, relies on a “hazy, inadequate” process for minors
to secure an exception to the law that violates guarantees of procedural
due process and lacks guidance or rules to govern it.
“It is fundamentally unclear how any patient seeking a judicial bypass
order may practically do so across the state of Nevada at this time,”
attorneys wrote in the filing.
Shortly after SB510’s passage in 1985, the U.S. District Court for the
District of Nevada issued an injunction, saying the law violated the
right to abortion under the U.S. Constitution. The U.S. Court of Appeals
for the 9th Circuit agreed, making that injunction permanent even while
the law stayed on the books.
Following the overturn of the Roe v. Wade decision, which had protected
the constitutional right to an abortion for about 50 years, district
attorneys from Lyon County and Carson City in 2024 argued the 1985 law
is now enforceable. They won an initial legal battle in April, but Traum
agreed to continue the stay pending an appeal. That appeal is still
pending and scheduled for oral arguments in October, but in a July 18
order, the 9th Circuit wrote that Planned Parenthood “failed to
establish serious questions going to the merits on its argument” that
would have justified the court issuing a temporary stay.
James Bopp Jr., a conservative lawyer representing the district
attorneys from Carson City, Storey and Douglas counties, among others,
celebrated the news in a phone interview Tuesday evening, saying parents
are now guaranteed to be involved in the abortion process.
“Planned Parenthood better be complying, starting an hour ago, with the
parental notice law,” Bopp said. “They’re very aware that this was in
the offing because all their efforts to keep this law (out of) effect
failed.”
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 In the state case, attorneys for
Planned Parenthood also argued that the law contains provisions that
have been “impliedly repealed” by a 2019 law repealing informed
consent laws for abortions and the sweeping 2022 amendment to the
Nevada Constitution ensuring equal rights for all “regardless of
race, color, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or
expression, age, disability, ancestry, or national origin.”
Attorneys noted that though most adolescents involve a parent in
their abortion decision-making, the law has no exemptions for minors
who are in foster care or are victims of sexual or physical abuse by
their parents or guardians. In the latter case, attorneys wrote that
the forced parental involvement can endanger the physical and
emotional well-being of minors.
As written, SB510 requires physicians to notify parents or guardians
before performing abortions on minors. Though minors seeking an
abortion could also obtain court authorization to avoid the
notification requirement, Planned Parenthood attorneys said it’s “an
opaque and daunting process,” especially for minors.
“Subjecting a patient to the judicial bypass process, alone,
additionally delays — and even, at times, denies — access to care
and can compound the physiological, psychological, emotional, and
other consequences associated with forcing an adolescent to continue
an unwanted pregnancy,” they wrote.
Bopp described the new legal challenge from Planned Parenthood as
“phony objections,” saying that arguments about difficulties in
getting an abortion were well litigated under Roe v. Wade, and laws
identical to Nevada’s notification law were upheld.
He added that it’s the state judicial system that regulates and
authorizes procedures such as the notification law, and that’s a
decision for that system, not Planned Parenthood.
“We just don’t see any other claims having any merit,” Bopp said.
A representative for Attorney General Aaron Ford’s office did not
immediately respond to a request for comment.
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