COLUMBIA, Mo. — Abortions are set to resume in Missouri after a judge blocked regulations that had restricted providers even after voters approved enshrining abortion rights into the state’s constitution.
Friday’s ruling came after a Kansas City judge ruled last year that abortions were now legal in the state but kept certain regulations on the books while a lawsuit by abortion-rights advocates played out.
That meant abortion facilities still had to be licensed by the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services. Planned Parenthood argued that the licensing law required providers to give “medically unnecessary and invasive” pelvic exams to anyone receiving an abortion, including medication abortions, according to court documents. It also included “medically irrelevant” size requirements for hallways, rooms and doors.
The plaintiffs said some of the regulations on Planned Parenthood centers were so strict, “most health centers or doctors’ office simply do not meet” them.
Jackson County Circuit Judge Jerri Zhang said in her ruling that the licensing requirement is “facially discriminatory because it does not treat services provided in abortion facilities the same as other types of similarly situated health care, including miscarriage care.”
Voters approved the measure adding abortion rights to the constitution in November. That amendment did not legalize abortion in the state outright but instead required judges to reconsider laws that had almost completely banned the procedure.
Planned Parenthood and other advocates sued to overturn Missouri’s near-total abortion ban almost immediately after voters amended the constitution to protect reproductive rights. Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey is fighting the lawsuit.
There was no immediate response to a voice message seeking comment from a spokesperson 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 coming days.
“Today’s decision affirms what we’ve already long known — the state’s abortion facility licensing requirements were not about patient safety, but rather another politically motivated barrier to prevent patients seeking abortion from getting the care they need,” she said in a statement.
Missouri is one of five states where voters approved ballot measures in 2024 to enshrine abortion rights in their constitutions. Nevada voters also approved an amendment but will need to pass it again in 2026 for it to take effect.
Friday’s ruling is a temporary order pending the outcome of the lawsuit by abortion-rights advocates.
Mallory Schwarz, executive director of Abortion Action Missouri, said clinic partners are ready to start providing abortions as soon as next week.
“With this change the landscape for Missourians and the entire Midwest region will be transformed, as patients will have greater access to abortion care than they have had in years,” she said in a statement.
Missouri’s constitutional amendment allows lawmakers to restrict abortion after viability with exceptions to “protect the life or physical or mental health of the pregnant person.”
The term “viability” is used by health care providers to describe whether a pregnancy is expected to continue developing normally or whether a fetus might survive outside the uterus. While there is no defined time frame, doctors say it is generally sometime after the 21st week of pregnancy.
Missouri was among the first states to implement a prohibition on most abortions after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in June 2022 overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision establishing a nationwide right to abortion.
—Golden reported from Seattle.
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