Missouri Planned Parenthood clinics hold off resuming abortions, await court ruling

Amendment 3 has gone into effect in Missouri. No abortions have begun again at the state’s Planned Parenthood clinics.

That’s because officials with Planned Parenthood, which operates health centers across the state, said they are still waiting on a judge’s decision on whether to grant an injunction that would allow abortions without decades’ worth of restrictive targeted regulations on abortion providers, or TRAP, laws.

The day after voters narrowly decided to overturn the state’s near-total abortion ban and protect the right to an abortion in the state constitution, the ACLU of Missouri, Planned Parenthood Great Plains and Planned Parenthood Great Rivers sued the state to strike down those statutes.

Jackson County Judge Jerri Zhang on Dec. 4 heard arguments in the lawsuit. As of 2 p.m. Dec. 6, she had not issued a decision.

Planned Parenthood officials on Dec. 4 said they intended to start taking walk-in medication abortion appointments at their clinics in Kansas City, Columbia and St. Louis as early as Friday if the judge ruled in their favor. Surgical abortion appointments would become available later.

Spokespeople with the local Planned Parenthood clinics told the Missouri Independent midday Dec. 6 that the clinics had not started walk-in abortion medication appointments nor had they started scheduling surgical abortions as they await a ruling.

While the lawsuit asks for a preliminary injunction, issuing one is up to Zhang’s discretion. Court challenges can take months, if not years. In Ohio, where citizens voted to protect abortion rights last year, it wasn’t until nearly a year later that a county judge struck down that state’s “heartbeat” law.

“The court is no doubt carefully analyzing years of anti-abortion laws and multiple outright bans on abortion. We know that review takes time,” Emily Wales, president and CEO, Planned Parenthood Great Plains, said in a statement Friday. “Complicating the process, however, is an Attorney General’s office that has made clear it will fight tooth and nail to prevent Missourians from accessing their new constitutional right to reproductive freedom.

Amendment 3 states “the right to reproductive freedom shall not be denied, interfered with, delayed, or otherwise restricted unless the government demonstrates that such action is justifiable by a compelling governmental interest achieved by the least restrictive means.”

The hearing on Dec. 4 in part centered around whether the state’s TRAP laws helped or harmed women seeking abortions.

These laws include a 72-hour waiting period between an initial appointment and an abortion; requiring doctors providing abortions to have hospital admitting privileges; and a requirement that the same physician who initially saw the patient also perform the abortion.

Attorneys with Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s office maintain the regulations protect women and said the office plans to enforce the current TRAP laws until a judge rules otherwise.

“It’s sick that Planned Parenthood doesn’t acknowledge the difference between a miscarriage and an abortion, a slap in the face to the millions who have lost beloved babies prematurely,” Madeline Sieren, the spokeswoman for Bailey, said in a statement Dec. 6, adding that the office will “continue to thwart Planned Parenthood at every opportunity.”

On Thursday, members of 40 Days For Life gathered outside five Planned Parenthood clinics across the state to pray that the judge deny the injunction “for the health and safety of women seeking abortions.”

“I am just happy the judge is taking time to consider this and not just rushing into a judgement,” Kathy Forck, with 40 Days for Life in Columbia, said Friday afternoon.

If Zhang rules in Planned Parenthood’s favor, the Columbia clinic would begin offering abortions again for the first time in six years.

“Now that the possibility is there that it could happen again, we are trusting in God,” Forck said. “We have continued to receive advanced training for sidewalk counseling through these six years, and we are ready to offer that same message of hope and help that we’ve always offered to the women.”

A decade ago, more than 5,000 abortions were performed in Missouri, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services. By 2020, when abortions were still legal, that number fell to 167, a drop that abortion providers attributed to the state’s growing list of regulations.

“As of today, Missourians have an unrealized constitutional right,” Wales said. “They are entitled to access abortion under the state’s constitution, and every day they cannot get that care here at home, their rights are being violated.”

Zhang on Dec. 4 denied the state’s request to remove Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker as a defendant and move the case to Cole County, where, earlier this year, a judge struck Amendment 3 from the ballot. That decision was soon overridden by the Missouri Court of Appeals.

The attorney general’s office said they plan to appeal this decision, arguing that Peters Baker does not appropriately represent all statewide prosecutors because of her previous statements in support of abortion rights.

Missouri Independent is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Missouri Independent maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jason Hancock for questions: info@missouriindependent.com. Follow Missouri Independent on Facebook and X.