1985 Nevada law requiring parental notification before minor’s abortion will go into effect after 40 years

CV NEWS FEED // A 1985 Nevada law requiring minors to notify their parents or guardians before having an abortion will go into effect April 30 after decades of being staved off by a preliminary injunction, a federal judge ruled April 1.

The Reno Gazette Journal reported that the Nevada Legislature enacted Senate Bill 510 40 years ago. The law requires an abortionist in almost all cases to notify a minor’s parent or guardian before performing an abortion. The bill also allows a pregnant minor to request authorization from a district court to proceed with the abortion without parental notification.

However, a court stopped it from going into effect with a preliminary injunction based on Roe v. Wade, citing concerns about a patient’s right to anonymity and the state’s duty to protect confidentiality. A federal court made the injunction permanent in 1991.

Federal District Judge Anne Traum, a Biden appointee, ruled April 1 that Roe v. Wade’s 2022 reversal takes away the grounds for the injunction, writing, “It follows that the judgment in this [1991] case was based upon the law of Roe, which is now overruled.”

According to the Reno Gazette Journal, Traum quoted the Dobbs v. Jackson Supreme Court decision to support her ruling. 

“States may regulate abortion for legitimate reasons, and when such regulations are challenged under the Constitution, courts cannot substitute their social and economic beliefs for the judgment of legislative bodies,” she wrote.

Traum ordered the law to go into effect almost a month out from her ruling in order to give potential challengers enough time to file opposing motions, the Reno Gazette Journal reported. Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford, a Democrat, is reviewing Traum’s decision.

Nevada Right to Life, which financed the litigation to remove the injunction on the law, celebrated Traum’s ruling.

“For 40 years, young girls have been exploited in secrecy, their suffering ignored while those in power turned a blind eye,” Executive Director Melissa Clement stated, according to the Reno Gazette Journal. “Today, that silence is broken. Parents will finally be involved, and protection will replace the neglect that allowed predators to thrive.”