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Judge: Missouri’s only abortion clinic can keep doing abortions

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ST. LOUIS (AP) — A judge issued an order Friday ensuring Missouri’s only abortion clinic can continue providing abortions, acting just hours before the St. Louis Planned Parenthood facility’s license was set to expire.

The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services had said it would not renew the clinic’s license, citing concerns with “failed abortions,” compromised patient safety and legal violations at the clinic. Agency officials also insisted upon interviewing additional physicians at the clinic as part of an investigation.

With the license set to expire at midnight Friday, Planned Parenthood pre-emptively sued this week and argued that the state was “weaponizing” the licensing process.

Planned Parenthood had said that absent court intervention, Missouri would become the first state without an abortion clinic since the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized the procedure nationwide. St. Louis Circuit Judge Michael Stelzer issued a temporary restraining order preventing Missouri from taking away the clinic’s license.

He said Planned Parenthood “has demonstrated that immediate and irreparable injury will result” if its abortion license is allowed to expire.

The clinic’s license “shall not expire and shall remain in effect” until a ruling is issued on Planned Parenthood’s request for a permanent injunction, according to Stelzer’s ruling. A hearing is set for Tuesday morning. The nearest clinic performing abortions is just across the Mississippi River in Granite City, Illinois, less than 10 miles  from the Planned Parenthood facility in St. Louis.

Planned Parenthood’s abortion clinic in the Kansas City area is in Overland Park, Kansas, just 2 miles  from the state line.

State figures show a handful of Missouri hospitals also perform abortions, but those are relatively rare. The fight over the clinic’s license comes as lawmakers in conservative states across the nation are passing new restrictions that take aim at Roe.

Abortion opponents, emboldened by new conservative justices on the Supreme Court, are hoping federal courts will uphold laws that prohibit abortions before a fetus is viable outside the womb, the dividing line the high court set in Roe. Louisiana, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi and Ohio have enacted bills barring abortion once there’s a detectable fetal heartbeat, as early as the sixth week of pregnancy.

Missouri lawmakers recently approved an eight-week ban on abortion. Alabama’s gone even further, outlawing virtually all abortions, even in cases of rape or incest. None of the bans has taken effect, and all are expected to face legal challenges. “Today is a victory for women across Missouri, but this fight is far from over,”

Planned Parenthood Federation of America CEO Dr. Leana Wen said in a statement. “We have seen just how vulnerable access to abortion care is here — and in the rest of the country.” The number of abortions performed in Missouri has declined every year for the past decade, reaching a low of 2,910 last year. Of those, an estimated 1,210 occurred at eight weeks or less of pregnancy, according to preliminary statistics from the state health department.

Missouri women also seek abortions in other states. In Kansas, about 3,300 of the 7,000 abortions performed in 2018 were for Missouri residents, according to the state’s health department. Illinois does not track the home states of women seeking abortions.

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ST. LOUIS (AP) — A St. Louis judge is weighing whether to grant an order allowing Missouri’s only abortion clinic to remain open, a day after abortion-rights protesters were arrested at a state office building. Judge Michael Stelzer heard arguments Thursday on Planned Parenthood’s request for a temporary restraining order that would prohibit Missouri from allowing the St. Louis clinic’s abortion license to lapse. It isn’t clear when Stelzer will rule. The license expires at midnight. Missouri’s health department cites concerns about patient safety and legal violations. Planned Parenthood says Missouri is “weaponizing” the licensing process.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that about a dozen protesters were arrested after refusing to leave the building where Republican Gov. Mike Parson has an office. Those arrested included an alderwoman and Planned Parenthood board members. ——— ST. LOUIS (AP) — A judge is deciding whether to ensure Missouri’s only abortion clinic can keep its license past Friday, the latest development in a decades-long push by abortion opponents to get states to enact strict rules on the procedure. Like many states, Missouri over the years enacted a series of regulations, ranging from waiting periods before women can receive abortions to rules on the width of clinic doors. Abortion-rights supporters say the rules are arbitrary and are intended to shutter abortion clinics, while abortion opponents say they’re aimed at protecting women and ensuring proper patient care. It’s not a “pro-life issue at all,” Missouri Republican Gov. Mike Parson said in defending the state’s reluctance to renew Planned Parenthood’s license to perform abortions at a St. Louis clinic. “This is about a standard of care for women in Missouri, whether it’s this clinic or any other clinic or any other hospital, they should have to meet the same standard.” Parson recently signed a bill that bans abortions on or beyond the eighth week of pregnancy, with exceptions for medical emergencies but not for rape or incest. But even before that law takes effect Aug. 28, strict regulations in Missouri have limited access to the procedure, according to abortion-rights supporters. A judge in St. Louis will determine whether to grant a request from Planned Parenthood for a temporary restraining order that would stop the state from allowing the license for Missouri’s only abortion clinic to lapse. (May 30) Planned Parenthood says a Missouri law requiring physicians who provide abortions to partner with a nearby hospital, which many hospitals have been unwilling to do, resulted in a Columbia clinic losing its license to perform abortions in 2018. That left the St. Louis clinic as the only one providing the procedure. If the St. Louis clinic’s license is not renewed before it expires at midnight Friday, Planned Parenthood officials said Missouri would become the first state without a functioning abortion clinic since the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion. Circuit Judge Michael Stelzer heard an hour of arguments Thursday on Planned Parenthood’s request for a temporary restraining order that would prohibit the state from allowing the license to lapse. It isn’t clear when Stelzer will rule. The hearing happened as abortion-rights supporters rallied elsewhere in downtown St. Louis. The Department of Health and Senior Services said March inspections at the clinic uncovered deficiencies. The agency cited “at least one incident in which patient safety was gravely compromised.” It also cited what it called “failed surgical abortions in which women remained pregnant,” and an alleged failure to obtain “informed consent.” The nearest clinics performing abortions are in a Kansas suburb of Kansas City and in Granite City, Illinois, just across the Mississippi River from St. Louis. The Kansas clinic is about 260 miles (420 kilometers) from St. Louis. The number of abortions performed in Missouri has declined every year for the past decade, reaching a low of 2,910 last year. State figures show a handful of Missouri hospitals also perform abortions, but those are rare. Missouri women also seek abortions in other states. In Kansas, about 3,300 of the 7,000 abortions performed in 2018 were for Missouri residents, according to the state’s health department. Illinois does not track the home states of women seeking abortions. When women first meet with physicians about abortion, Missouri law mandates that they are given a 22-page booklet with information about fetal development, alternatives to abortion and a statement that “abortion will terminate the life of a separate, unique, living human being.” After that initial consultation, women must wait at least 72 hours before they can receive an abortion. Missouri regulations also require pelvic exams before abortions. Planned Parenthood’s lawsuit alleges that the health department recently interpreted the longstanding rule to apply to medication-induced abortions, not just surgical ones. Doctors at the St. Louis clinic refused to perform pelvic exams on women before medication abortions, so the facility now offers only surgical abortions. Pelvic exams also were a sticking point in the clinic’s latest attempt to renew its license. Planned Parenthood says it performed the exams right before surgical abortions. The health department says those must occur 72 hours prior. The agency says Planned Parenthood last week agreed to change its policy. National Abortion Federation Interim President and CEO Katherine Ragsdale said other regulations on abortion facilities “tend to be things like the size of the janitorial closet or the height of the water fountains.” “It’s clearly just a tool to try to make abortion unavailable,” she said. ___ ST. LOUIS (AP) — A hearing is scheduled in a St. Louis court Thursday on an effort by the only abortion clinic in Missouri to retain its license after the state raised concerns about care there. Planned Parenthood sued the state Tuesday, saying it may be forced to stop providing abortions at its St. Louis facility because the state is threatening not to renew its license to perform them. Missouri’s health department is citing failed abortions, compromised patient safety and legal violations as it pressures the state’s only abortion clinic to come into compliance or lose its license, which expires Friday.

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