PRESS RELEASE
July 29, 2025
Contact: James Bopp, Jr.
Cell Phone 812/243-0825; Phone 812/232-2434; Fax 812/235-3685; [email protected], For more information: Krystal Minera-Alvis (775) 815-1360; [email protected]

Nevada's Federal Court Lifts Pause on Allowing Enforcement of Nevada's Parental-Notice Law for Minors Seeking Abortion

On Tuesday, July 22, 2025, Nevada's federal court gave effect to its decision to vacate its 1991 order banning enforcement of a Nevada law requiring that parents be notified when their minor children seek an abortion (“parental-notice law”). As a result of litigation commenced shortly after the law was passed and before it went into effect, the district court had barred enforcement of the law based on Roe v. Wade. However, the Supreme Court overruled Roe in its 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision. Accordingly, Stephen B. Rye, Lyon County District Attorney, and Garrit S. Pruyt, Carson City District Attorney, supported by Nevada Right to Life, argued that the district court should lift its ban against the law since Roe was its sole basis.

The district court ultimately agreed with the District Attorneys. However, it delayed their relief by granting a motion filed by Planned Parenthood of Mar Monte (“Planned Parenthood”)—the organization defending the 1991 ban—that asked the court to put a pause on lifting the ban while Planned Parenthood pursued an appeal in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

That delay was ended when, on July 18, 2025, a Ninth Circuit panel held that Planned Parenthood had not even made the weakest showing that can still qualify for any additional delay—it failed to show that it could raise “serious questions” concerning the district court's decision to vacate the ban. Accordingly, the district court issued the order allowing the parental- notice law to go into effect.

The parental-notice law should not be controversial. Parental notice laws protect minors who are incapable of making a mature decision from choosing abortions and, by involving parents, protects parents' rights to supervise the upbringing and education of their children. While the parental-notice law requires a physician to notify a custodial parent or guardian before performing an abortion on a minor, it contains several commonsense exceptions. Specifically, parental notice is not required if the physician believes an abortion is immediately necessary for reasons of life or health. Nor is it required if the minor is married. Furthermore, courts may grant a waiver of the parental notice requirement if the minor proves (a) “she is mature enough to make an intelligent and informed decision”; (b) she is “financially independent or emancipated,” or (c) the notice “would be detrimental to her best interests.”

James Bopp, Jr., of The Bopp Law Firm, PC, and counsel for the District Attorneys, says: “The district court's decision to lift its ban on the parental-notice law and the Ninth Circuit's affirmation that Planned Parenthood's arguments were fruitless not only vindicate essential rights held by parents in raising and protecting their children, but also recognize the balance of governmental powers instituted by the Founding Fathers. Courts are not permitted to usurp legislative or executive roles by ordering which laws may or may not be enforced when there is no remaining constitutional basis for such a decision. We are pleased that the judiciary recognized this basic truth.”

Read Nevada Right to Life's press release here.
The Ninth Circuit's order can be found here. The district court's order can be found here.