Thwarted in federal court, Planned Parenthood has filed a state lawsuit challenging the implementation of a decades-old Nevada law that requires doctors to notify parents of a minor seeking an abortion.

In April, a federal judge paused a 1985 law from going into effect until the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals resolved a motion for a pending appeal that had been filed by Planned Parenthood.

U.S. District Judge Anne Traum lifted that block Tuesday after a federal appellate judge decided to not pause the law’s implementation, allowing the law go into effect immediately. The law requires parental notification unless the minor obtains a court order to receive an abortion without parental notification.

Anti-abortion advocates celebrated the law’s going into effect, calling it a “historic victory for Nevada families.”

Following the ruling, Planned Parenthood Mar Monte, which covers Nevada and part of California, and a physician listed as “Dr. Doe” filed a new lawsuit in state court to block the law’s implementation. It argues that the law is vague and could expose abortion providers to criminal liability and added that the laws’s judicial bypass process could delay abortion access, forcing patients to carry unwanted pregnancies.

Planned Parenthood arguments

The parental notification law prohibits a physician from knowingly performing an abortion on an “unmarried or unemancipated woman who is under the age of 18” unless a parent or guardian is “personally notified” beforehand, according to the law.

If they can’t be notified after a “reasonable effort,” the physician must delay performing the abortion until the parent or guardian has been notified through certified mail at their known address, the law says.

Planned Parenthood Mar Monte — which provides wellness and preventative care services as well as abortions at health care centers in Reno and North Las Vegas — says the law doesn’t establish standards for doctors to follow to avoid criminal liability, such as how to determine a patient’s marital or emancipated status or how to determine the parent’s last known address.

Planned Parenthood and “Dr. Doe” also raised concerns about minors who become pregnant due to abuse by a parent, or about minors in foster care who are in the custody of state of Nevada.

The lawsuit also argued there is no guidance regarding the judicial bypass process, which allows patients to obtain an abortion without parental notification. They claim the process patients must navigate is “opaque and daunting” and will lead to either delays or denial of access to care, forcing an adolescent to carry an unwanted pregnancy to term against their will.

“It is fundamentally unclear how any patient seeking a judicial bypass order may practically do so across the state of Nevada at this time,” the plaintiffs argue in the lawsuit.

Adolescents decide to seek an abortion for a variety of reasons similar to adults, such as financial concerns, lack of social support and the effects of parenthood on their future plans, the plaintiffs argue in the lawsuit.

The plaintiffs also said that most adolescents involve a parent in their abortion decision-making, and the small number who do not “have valid reasons for making that choice,” usually for reasons associated with their safety and well-being, or concerns about threats of punishment.

Forcing parental involvement can exacerbate family dynamics and may endanger patients’ emotional and physical well being, such as threatening their housing security, the plaintiffs argue in the lawsuit.

They also argue that risks associated with pregnancy, labor and childbirth are greater than the risks associated with an abortion, particularly for minors, and delays in performing an abortion can increase the risk of complications for the patient.

Planned Parenthood Mar Monte lawsuit by hill23602 on Scribd

‘Victory’ for anti-abortion advocates

Nevada Right to Life called the enforcement of the state’s parental notification law a “historic victory for Nevada families” in a statement Wednesday.

“This is a landmark moment for parents and children across Nevada,” said Melissa Clement, executive director of Nevada Right to Life, in a statement. “We refused to give up. We carried this fight alone for decades, and now parents will have a voice in decisions affecting their children’s lives.”

Clement argued that parents should be involved in any medical decision a girl should make, saying a young girl does not know what her blood type is or what medical issues she should be concerned about.

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