parental notification abortion law

By Bryan Horwath
Las Vegas Review-Journal

(Las Vegas Review-Journal) — The highest court in Nevada has ordered a lower court to grant a preliminary injunction against a decades-old abortion law that requires parents to be notified if their child seeks an abortion.

The Nevada Supreme Court issued the ruling Thursday in a 22-page opinion. The law has been on the books since 1985 but was not enforced until last year.

parental notification abortion law

In its opinion, the high court called the law “unconstitutionally vague” and said the appeal, brought by Planned Parenthood and a Nevada physician, has a reasonable likelihood of success.

“We reverse the order denying the request for a preliminary injunction and remand the matter to the district court with instructions to grant the preliminary injunction,” the court stated in its conclusion.

The law, which went unenforced for decades, went into effect in July 2025. A federal judge ruled that, after the overturning of Roe v. Wade, which protected a woman’s right to an abortion, there was no longer a legal basis that allowed a longstanding injunction to prevent the 1985 parental notification law from going into effect.

parental notification abortion law

The law, passed as Senate Bill 510 in June 1985, was sponsored by Las Vegas Republican state Sen. Ray Rawson, who served from 1985 to 2001. A federal court granted an injunction to keep the law from taking effect, and the injunction was made permanent in 1991.

After the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which effectively overturned the precedent established by Roe v. Wade, district attorneys in Nevada’s rural counties moved to lift the permanent injunction.

Thursday’s ruling means the law will not be enforced while the lawsuit continues.