A Nevada law that has gone unenforced since it was enacted 40 years ago will go into effect at the end of the month, requiring parents to be notified if their minor daughter seeks an abortion.

A federal judge ruled Monday that since the overturning of Roe v. Wade, which protected a woman’s right to an abortion, there is no longer a legal basis that allowed a longstanding injunction to prevent a 1985 parental notification law from going into effect.

U.S. District Court Judge Anne Traum lifted the injunction and ruled the law will take effect April 30. It will require the parental notification of a minor’s intent to have an abortion. Minors for whom notification would not be in their best interest can circumvent the requirement via a court order, according to the ruling.

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 that effectively overturned the precedent established Roe v. Wade, district attorneys in Nevada’s rural counties moved to lift the permanent injunction.

In 2022, patients under 19 made up about 8.5% of reported abortion procedures in Nevada, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s 2022 abortion surveillance report.

Melissa Clement, executive director of Nevada Right to Life, said she is excited about the ruling. As it stands now, girls as young as 10 years old can get an abortion without a parent knowing, making a life-changing medical decision.

“When a child is facing an unplanned pregnancy, she needs support and love from those who know her best,” Clement said.

Not requiring parental notification protects sex traffickers and child abusers who can walk children into a clinic to hide their crimes, she said. With the 1985 law taking effect, a child can get a judicial bypass in the situations where it’s the parent who is dangerous, Clement said.

“This law has been on the books and unenforced for 40 years,” Clement said. “In those 40 years, young girls have been exploited in secrecy, their suffering ignored while those in power turned a blind eye. Today that silence is broken.”

A statement released by Planned Parenthood Mar Monte called the 1985 law an “assault on the right of people to control their own bodies” and said that young people deserve confidential care when seeking sexual and reproductive health services.

“Minors are capable of making informed decisions about their reproductive health,” the statement said. “It is insulting that this law questions the capability of a young person’s maturity and intelligence to make decisions about their own body, life and future when this statute — found unconstitutional for 40 years — can force minors to become parents.”

The majority of young people tell a parent or another trusted adult about their pregnancy, according to the statement, which said young people who choose not to notify a parent have valid reasons, such as fear of abuse, loss of their home and financial support, or being in the foster care system.

The Nevada attorney general’s office declined to comment, citing pending litigation.

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