Missouri abortion rights in legal limbo after constitutional protections take effect
Source: The Guardian
Fri 6 Dec 2024 13.52 EST
Last modified on Fri 6 Dec 2024 14.01 EST
An amendment to Missouri’s constitution protecting the right to abortion took effect late on Thursday, two years after the state banned the procedure – but abortions have not yet resumed in the state.
The day after Missouri voters supported the measure to amend the constitution, Planned Parenthood affiliates in the state filed a lawsuit asking the court to strike down the state’s near-total abortion ban as well as a raft of other restrictions that, Planned Parenthood said, make it impossible to perform the procedure. In a hearing on Wednesday, the groups asked the Jackson county circuit judge Jerri Zhang to quickly issue an order to freeze the restrictions and allow abortions in the state to resume on Friday.
However, the judge has not acted, and Missouri abortion providers remain in legal limbo, caught between contradictory provisions in the state’s constitution and its statutes. Under the new amendment 3, Missouri residents possess a “fundamental right to reproductive freedom”, including access to abortions until fetal viability.
“I think it’s a simple case. I don’t think we are asking for something particularly extraordinary,” said Emily Wales, president of Planned Parenthood Great Plains in Missouri. “We have Missouri providers who travel to Kansas currently to provide care. It’s absolutely their hope to provide abortion services in their home state. So as soon as we get notice, we will rearrange our plans to ensure that Missourians have access to care.”
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/dec/06/missouri-abortion-rights-amendment
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