Columbia, Mo. – Abortions will resume in Missouri after a judge blocked the regulations that had restricted suppliers even after voters approved consecrating the rights of abortion in the constitution of the State.
Friday’s ruling occurred after a judge from Kansas City ruled last year that abortions were now legal in the state, but maintained certain regulations in the books, while a lawsuit of the defenders of abortion rights developed .
That meant that abortion facilities still had to be licensed by the Department of Health of Missouri and services for the elderly. Planned Parenthood argued that the licenses law required suppliers to grant pelvic exams “medically unnecessary and invasive” to any person who receives an abortion, including drug abortions, according to judicial documents. It also included “medically irrelevant” size requirements for corridors, rooms and doors.
The plaintiffs said that some of the regulations on the Planned Parenthood centers were so strict, “most health centers or doctors’ office simply do not comply.”
Jackson County Circuit Judge Jerri Zhang said in her rul including spontaneous abortion attention “.
Voters approved the measure by adding abortion rights to the Constitution in November. That amendment did not legalize abortion in the State directly, but required the judges to reconsider the laws that had almost completely prohibited the procedure.
Planned Parenthood and other defenders demanded to annul the prohibition of almost total abortion of Missouri almost immediately after voters modified the Constitution to protect reproductive rights. Republican attorney general Andrew Bailey is fighting the lawsuit.
There was no immediate response to a voice message in search of comments from a spokesman for the Attorney General.
Margot Riphagen, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Rivers, said the group is working quickly to start providing the procedure again in the next few days.
“Today’s decision affirms what we have already known for a long time: the license requirements of the State’s abortion facilities were not patient safety, but rather another barrier motivated politically to prevent patients looking to Abortion get the attention they need, “he said in a statement.
Missouri is one of the five states where voters approved voting measures in 2024 to consecrate the rights of abortion in their constitutions. Nevada voters also approved an amendment, but will need to approve it again in 2026 to take effect.
Friday’s ruling is a temporary order waiting for the outcome of the lawsuit by the defenders of abortion rights.
Mallory Schwarz, Executive Director of Abortion Action Missouri, said clinical partners are ready to start providing abortions as soon as next week.
“With this change, the landscape for the Missurians and the entire region of the west medium will be transformed, since patients will have greater access to abortion care than in the years,” he said in a statement.
The constitutional amendment of Missouri allows legislators to restrict abortion after viability with exceptions to “protect the physical or mental health of the pregnant person.”
Medical care providers used the term “viability” to describe whether a pregnancy is expected to continue to develop normally or if a fetus could survive outside the uterus. While there is no defined time frame, doctors say that it is generally at some point after the 21st week of pregnancy.
Missouri was one of the first states to implement a prohibition of most abortions after a ruling of the United States Supreme Court in June 2022 overturned the decision of Roe v. 1973 Wade establishing a national law to abortion.
