ST. LOUIS, MO — The future of abortion services are uncertain in Missouri after a federal court ruled Monday in favor of a state law requiring doctors who perform the procedure to have hospital admitting privileges and statewide abortion clinics to be licensed as ambulatory surgical centers. The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a 2017 injunction that had blocked the new law from taking effect. That law could effectively shutter all but one of the state’s abortion clinics.

“Today’s decision could impact services within weeks, forcing Planned Parenthood to suspend abortion services in Columbia and limiting access for patients seeking abortion to a single Missouri provider in St. Louis…” Planned Parenthood Advocates in Missouri said in a statement.

The group called the decision unconstitutional and claimed the ruling ignored Supreme Court precedent from a virtually identical case out of Texas two years ago.

In that case, Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt, the court ruled 5-3 that a similar Texas law placed an “undue burden” on women seeking an abortion while providing little or no medical benefit in return.

“The Supreme Court’s logic in Whole Woman’s Health applies to Missouri’s ideological restrictions, as well. These requirements do nothing to help Missouri women — and, in fact, actually hurt them,” said Brandon J. Hill, President and CEO of Comprehensive Health for Planned Parenthood Great Plains. “If these laws are allowed to take effect, women will now have to travel farther, wait longer, and use more of their own resources to access the health care they need most — if they can get care at all.”

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The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services said that now the injunction has been vacated, it will immediately begin enforcing the law.

“In its opinion, the court noted that the good faith of state officers and the validity of their actions are presumed. As the Director of DHSS, a board-certified obstetrician/gynecologist for thirty years, and a defendant in the case, my commitment and that of the department is to act in good faith to follow the law and protect the health and safety of all women in Missouri, including those seeking abortions,” said Randall Williams, the department’s director.

But Mary Kogut, President and CEO of Reproductive Health Services for Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region, challenged whether the state really has women’s best interests at heart.

“Missouri women continue to bear the burden of misguided government leaders, who substitute their own opinion for medical evidence,” she said.

Planned Parenthood added that it will continue to challenge the restrictions in court, but Missouri, like many other states, appears to be counting on a new conservative Supreme Court majority to uphold them. Iowa, Mississippi, Kentucky, Louisiana, Ohio and Indiana have all passed anti-abortion laws this year, according to Vox.

The issue was one of the primary battlegrounds in Supreme Court-nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s contentious confirmation hearing last week.

Image via Shutterstock

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