Judge Prevents Abortion Shutdown in Missouri

A Missouri judge issued an order Friday ensuring the state's only abortion clinic can continue providing the service, acting just hours before the St. Louis Planned Parenthood facility's license was set to expire, per the AP. The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services had not renewed the clinic's license, citing concerns with "failed abortions," compromised patient safety, and legal violations. Agency officials also insisted upon interviewing additional physicians at the clinic as part of an investigation. Planned Parenthood pre-emptively sued this week to prevent a potential gap in abortion coverage. St. Louis Circuit Judge Michael Stelzer heard arguments Thursday. His ruling prevents Missouri from become the first state without an abortion clinic since the Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized the procedure nationwide.

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, about 2 miles from the state line. State figures show a handful of Missouri hospitals also perform abortions, but those are 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. (Clarence Thomas and Ruth Bader Ginsburg illustrated their opposing views.)