LAS VEGAS (CN) - The Nevada Supreme Court granted a victory to reproductive health advocates and abortion providers Thursday, blocking enforcement of a 1985 state law restricting abortion for minors.
Reversing a lower court's denial of a preliminary injunction, an en banc panel of justices ruled Nevada Senate Bill 510 - passed in 1985, never enforced and declared unconstitutional in 1991, and requiring parental notification or a judicial bypass process for a minor to receive an abortion - is unconstitutionally vague.
Specifically, the state's highest court found there were no firm rules on how doctors should personally notify parents or what constitutes a "reasonable effort" to notify.
"The lack of specificity arguably leaves it up to each potential investigating agency and thereafter, judge, to arbitrarily decide what effort is sufficient," Chief Justice Douglas Herndon wrote.
The justices also found the judicial bypass process was unconstitutionally vague and left doctors with no clear standard on how to know whether a patient had successfully received the necessary judicial authorization to continue with the procedure.
"Because physicians face possible criminal prosecution and occupational harm pursuant to NRS 442.257, the lack of fair notice and the potential for standardless enforcement elevates our concerns," Herndon wrote. "Thus, we conclude that in most applications, the judicial bypass provisions are not clear enough to provide notice and standards to avoid discriminatory enforcement."
The high court took issue with the lower court's finding that the plaintiffs - including Planned Parenthood and an anonymous doctor - do not satisfy standing and ripeness requirements to challenge the judicial bypass procedures. Herndon wrote the threat of enforcement is enough to establish standing, and ripeness can be satisfied by the plaintiffs demonstrating hardship without a court ruling.
"As appellants explain, the statute forces physicians into an impossible choice: deny urgently needed medical care or risk prosecution," he said.
The justices further contested the lower court's ruling the plaintiffs' patients would not suffer irreparable harm absent a preliminary injunction. They said that temporarily pausing the enforcement of SB 510 would preserve the status quo and ensure the plaintiffs would not be subject to unconstitutional laws.
The panel remanded the case back to the lower court with an order to grant the preliminary injunction.
Justices Kristina Pickering, Linda Marie Bell, Ron D. Parraguirre, Patricia Lee, Elissa F. Cadish and Lidia S. Stiglich concurred with the majority opinion.
In a statement to Courthouse News, Alcinia Whiters, deputy communications director for the Office of the Nevada Attorney General, said the office "accepts the unanimous decision of the Supreme Court in this matter."
Representatives for the plaintiffs did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A federal judge vacated a longstanding injunction stopping the enactment of SB 510 following the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, which overturned Roe v. Wade. In September, a Clark County judge in September ruled the law would stand.
Source: Courthouse News Service
