JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Planned Parenthood halted abortions in Missouri on Tuesday (May 27) after the state’s top court ordered new rulings in the ongoing legal wrangling over the state’s abortion ban, which was voted down in last November’s election.
The state’s top court ruled that a district judge applied the wrong standard in rulings in December and February that allowed abortions to resume in the state. Nearly all abortions were halted under a ban that took effect after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.
In Tuesday’s two-page ruling, the court ordered Judge Jerri Zhang to vacate her earlier orders and reevaluate the case using the standards the court laid out. Zhang ruled that she was allowing abortions to resume largely because advocates were likely to prevail in the case eventually. The Supreme Court said it should first consider whether there would be harms from allowing abortions to resume.
The state emphasized in its petition filed to the state Supreme Court in March that Planned Parenthood didn’t sufficiently prove women were harmed by the state’s strict abortion regulations. The state argued Judge Zhang’s decisions left abortion facilities “functionally unregulated” and women with “no guarantee of health and safety.”
Among the regulations that had been placed on hold were ones setting cleanliness standards for abortion facilities and requiring physicians who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at certain types of hospitals located within 30 miles or 15 minutes of where an abortion is provided.
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey said in a statement that “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 maintains that those restrictions were specifically targeted to make it harder to access abortion.
Still, the organization — which has the state’s only abortion clinics — immediately started calling patients to cancel abortion appointments at Missouri clinics in Columbia and Kansas City, according to Emily Wales, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Plains.
“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 said. “To be in that position again, after the people of Missouri voted to ensure abortion access, is frustrating.”
Wales said Planned Parenthood hopes to be back in court soon.
Sam Lee, director of Campaign Life Missouri, said he was “extremely excited” by the Supreme Court 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.”
Missouri is the only state where voters have used a ballot measure to overturn a ban on abortion at all stages of pregnancy. The Republican-controlled state government pushed back in court.
Since then, lawmakers have approved another ballot measure for an amendment that would reimpose a ban — but with exceptions for pregnancies caused by rape or incest. It could be on the ballot in 2026 or sooner.
From The Associated Press. May not be republished. Fingerhut reported from Des Moines, Iowa and Mulvihill from Cherry Hill, New Jersey.
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