Judge denies Planned Parenthood's request to halt Nevada parental notification law

A Nevada judge has denied a request from Planned Parenthood Mar Monte to block a state law requiring parents or guardians to be notified before their child undergoes an abortion.

Key Takeaways:

• A Nevada judge on Friday denied a request from Planned Parenthood to block a state law requiring parental notification before a minor receives an abortion.

• The law, which was passed in 1985, was paused for 40 years before finally taking effect in July.

• Planned Parenthood challenged several portions of the law, but Judge Erika Mendoza ruled that it did not have a "likelihood of success" in winning its lawsuit, and therefore denied the injunction.

The Backstory:

The state's parental notification law, passed in 1985, required that a parent or guardian receive notification before their minor child undergoes an abortion (although a parent does not have to consent to the abortion). However, it was never implemented due to the Supreme Court ruling in Roe v. Wade.

After Roe's overturn in 2022, Nevada began implementing previously dormant laws, including the one requiring parental notification for an abortion. The abortion industry quickly stepped in to challenge the law, and it was temporarily blocked. A federal court lifted that injunction on July 22, allowing the law to go into effect. But the day before, on July 21, Planned Parenthood Mar Monte had filed another lawsuit against the law in an additional effort to have it blocked.

The Details:

In her Friday ruling, Clark County District Judge Erika Mendoza denied Planned Parenthood Mar Monte's request for a preliminary injunction against the law, saying that plaintiffs “have not established a likelihood of success on several arguments due to preliminary question of standing and ripeness. Further, Plaintiffs have not established a likelihood of success on their substantive arguments.”

According to Courthouse News Service, Planned Parenthood tried a number of different tactics to halt the law, including arguing that the judicial bypass procedure, which allows a minor to receive an abortion without parental notification, would cause a delay in getting the abortion. But Mendoza rejected those claims.

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“Plaintiffs have not identified a specific patient who attempted to pursue the judicial bypass procedure or whose plans have stalled as a result of the parental notice and/or judicial bypass procedure,” she said.

Nevada Right to Life, which has been fighting in favor of the law, praised Mendoza's ruling.

“Planned Parenthood has tried every legal trick to cut parents out of their children’s lives and they keep losing,” said Krystal Minera-Alvis, Communications Director for Nevada Right to Life. “Parents must be involved in ALL medical decisions, including those as life altering and emotionally taxing as abortion. This ruling is common sense and it is a victory for Nevada families.”

The Bottom Line:

Planned Parenthood's relentless fight to stop a commonsense law to protect children is a demonstration of just how far it's willing to go to profit from the killing of preborn children. If a law prevents it from committing more abortions, it will fight against that law — even when the well-being of minor children is at stake.