Federal Judge Halts Missouri's Abortion Expansion, Leaving Three Clinics in Limbo
For the first time in years, the Planned Parenthood location in the Central West End is no longer the sole abortion-providing clinic in Missouri. But though a Kansas City clinic is now offering abortion services (medical only), a federal appeals court has effectively blocked three other Planned Parenthood locations from doing the same.
On Friday, in a one-sentence ruling, the full Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a temporary stay on the groundbreaking ruling issued by U.S. District Judge Howard Sachs in April 2017.
Based on a landmark Supreme Court case in Texas, Sachs's ruling had blocked the "undue burdens" Missouri inflicts on clinics. Those burdens, while medically unnecessary, were steep enough to prevent additional Missouri clinics from offering abortion services and led to Planned Parenthood's Columbia clinic losing its abortion license 2015.
In the wake of Sachs' ruling, the obstacles restricting abortion access to a single St. Louis clinic were no more. Planned Parenthood clinics in Kansas City, Columbia, Jopin and Springfield swung into action to obtain state licenses to offer elective abortion services.
Read more: https://www.riverfronttimes.com/newsblog/2017/09/21/federal-judge-halts-missouris-abortion-expansion-leaving-three-clinics-in-limbo
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