For 1st Time Since Roe v. Wade, One State Will Likely Not Offer Abortions

By the end of this week, it will likely be impossible to get a legal abortion in Missouri. The state's last remaining abortion clinic warned that its license to provide abortions expires Friday, and Planned Parenthood says the state is "refusing to renew" it. If indeed Missouri's health department fails to renew the annual license, the clinic will no longer be able to provide abortion services, though it will continue providing other women's health services, CBS News reports. Planned Parenthood is suing for a restraining order in an attempt to prevent the state from blocking abortion services, and a circuit court judge will hear arguments Wednesday.

If indeed the license is not renewed, Missouri, which had five abortion clinics as recently as 2008, will be the first state in the US not to offer abortions since the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision in 1973, CNN reports. "This is not a drill. This is not a warning. This is a real public health crisis," says Dr. Leana Wen, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, in a statement. A spokesperson for the state health department would only tell CBS, which goes into detail about the state regulations that are threatening to see the renewal denied, that Planned Parenthood's license is "under review." Just days ago, Missouri enacted a strict anti-abortion bill, blocking the procedure after the eighth week of pregnancy, with no exceptions for rape or incest. (Here's what the president thinks of the strict new abortion laws being passed around the country.)