Planned Parenthood has suspended abortion services in Missouri, effective Tuesday, after the state’s Supreme Court issued an order requiring lower courts to reconsider previous rulings in the ongoing legal battle over the state’s abortion ban, which voters had overturned in November of last year.
The state’s highest court determined that a district judge had applied an incorrect legal standard in December and February rulings that had allowed abortions to resume in Missouri. The state had largely ceased providing abortions under a ban that took effect following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in 2022.
In its two-page ruling on Tuesday, the Supreme Court directed Judge Jerri Zhang to vacate her prior orders and reassess the case using the legal standards outlined by the higher court. Judge Zhang had previously indicated that her decision to allow abortions to resume was based on the likelihood that abortion rights advocates would ultimately prevail in the legal challenge. However, the Supreme Court stated that the lower court should first evaluate the potential harms that could result from allowing abortions to continue.
In a petition submitted to the state Supreme Court in March, the state argued that Planned Parenthood had not adequately demonstrated that women would be harmed by the temporary suspension of the state’s broad range of laws and regulations governing abortion services and providers. Conversely, the state contended that Judge Zhang’s rulings had left abortion facilities “functionally unregulated,” leaving women with “no guarantee of health and safety.”
Among the regulations that had been temporarily blocked were those establishing cleanliness standards for abortion facilities and requiring physicians performing abortions to have admitting privileges at specific types of hospitals located within a 30-mile or 15-minute radius of the abortion clinic.
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey issued a statement, saying, “Today’s decision from the Missouri Supreme Court is a win for women and children and sends a clear message – abortion providers must comply with state law regarding basic safety and sanitation requirements.”
Planned Parenthood, however, maintains that these restrictions were specifically designed to impede access to abortion services.
Despite the court order, Planned Parenthood, which operates the state’s only abortion clinics, began immediately contacting patients to cancel scheduled abortion appointments at its facilities in Columbia and Kansas City, according to Emily Wales, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Plains.
Wales described the situation as familiar but deeply disappointing for the organization.
“We have had to call patients in Missouri previously and say you were scheduled for care, your appointment is now canceled because of political interference, new restrictions, licensure overreach by the state,” she stated. “To be in that position again, after the people of Missouri voted to ensure abortion access, is frustrating.”
Wales indicated that Planned Parenthood intends to return to court in the near future.
Sam Lee, director of Campaign Life Missouri, expressed “extreme excitement” regarding the Supreme Court’s order.
“This means that our pro-life laws, which include many health and safety protections for women, will remain in place,” Lee said. “How long they will remain we will have to see.”
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