Planned Parenthood dropped its federal challenge to a 40-year-old Nevada law requiring abortionists to notify parents before performing abortions on minors as an appellate court allowed the law to go into effect this week. However, the organization has filed another bid to halt the law in state court.
Citing a “shifting” legal landscape, Planned Parenthood filed to dismiss the federal lawsuit, as KVVU-TV reported on Wednesday.
The law at the center of the legal fight, Senate Bill 510, was passed by the Nevada state legislature in 1985. However, a federal court declared the law “unconstitutional” and prevented it from taking effect.
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Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade in 2022, two Nevada district attorneys and state officials initiated a legal battle against the abortion industry, arguing that the parental notification law is now enforceable.
Melissa Clement, executive director of Nevada Right to Life, is celebrating the news that Planned Parenthood dismissed its federal case.
“We refused to give up,” Clement declared, according to a statement published by KVVU-TV. “We carried this fight alone for decades, and now parents will have a voice in decisions affecting their children’s lives.”
After its unsuccessful bid in federal court, California-based Planned Parenthood Mar Monte, which has facilities in Nevada, and a physician using the pseudonym “Dr. Doe,” filed a complaint in Clark County District Court on Monday.
The lawsuit argued that the law can’t be revived if it was already declared “unconstitutional.” In addition, the suit asserts that requiring a parent or guardian to be notified before a minor can undergo an abortion may endanger the child’s “emotional and physical well-being, including, for example, by creating threats to their housing security.”
Kristi Hamrick, vice president of media and communications at Students for Life of America and Students for Life Action, called it “astounding” that anyone would take seriously what she described as “Planned Parenthood’s lawsuit against commonsense.”
The pro-life leader argues that parental notification laws like the one in Nevada help protect young girls from abusers who may be trying to conceal a crime and abortion facilities that may take advantage of them for financial gain.
“The nation’s number one abortion vendor opposes getting an adult involved who doesn’t have a predatory or financial interest in an abortion, no surprise there, but how horrific for young, vulnerable girls,” Hamrick told The Christian Post. “That should horrify parents in Nevada.”
Planned Parenthood Mar Monte did not immediately respond to CP’s request for comment.
Kelsey Pritchard, the political communications director at Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, declared that Planned Parenthood “continues to undermine parental rights across the country.”
“In many states, the abortion giant pushes policies that allow underage girls, who aren’t old enough to get their ears pierced alone, to undergo abortions without their parents ever knowing. Nevada is just the latest battleground,” Pritchard told CP. “From Alaska to Michigan to Montana, Planned Parenthood asks courts to push out parents, so their profits aren’t hindered by parental involvement.”
In a July 2022 survey published by Rasmussen Reports assessing 1,000 likely U.S. voters, 47% of participants identified as pro-choice, 43% identified as pro-life, and 10% identified as unsure. But 64% of respondents said that they agreed that abortionists should be required to notify parents before performing abortions on girls under age 18 and only 25% opposed. The other 11% responded with “Not Sure.”
Samantha Kamman is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: samantha.kamman@christianpost.com. Follow her on Twitter: @Samantha_Kamman
