KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Right after a recently passed constitutional amendment reversing the state’s nearly complete ban went into effect, Planned Parenthood sought to resume providing abortions in a number of Missouri clinics on Friday. However, they are still on hold as a convoluted legal struggle continues.
The problem is that no state law is expressly superseded by the amendment. Additionally, Missouri had only one abortion clinic in St. Louis due to the state’s many restrictions before Roe v. Wade ended and allowed the Republican-led legislature to adopt an almost complete prohibition.
Many of those outdated rules, such as a 72-hour waiting time, should remain in effect notwithstanding the amendment, according to Missouri’s Republican attorney general; Planned Parenthood disagrees.
In the middle are the prosecutors. While lawyers debate what to do, they seek a preliminary injunction to stop the old laws from being enforced.
However, Jerri Zhang, the circuit judge for Jackson County, has not yet responded to that request.
Emily Wales, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Plains, stated in a written statement that Missourians currently possess an unfulfilled constitutional right. The state constitution guarantees them the right to an abortion, and each day that they are denied that care at home is a violation of their rights.
Here are some facts on the complex legal dispute and the current status of access to abortion:
Several states, including Missouri, took action to increase access.
Voters in November adopted ballot measures in five states, including Missouri, to include the right to an abortion in their state constitutions. It ensures people’s freedom to make reproductive health decisions, including whether to have an abortion, use birth control, or undergo in vitro fertilization. In the end, it was supported by nearly 52% of voters.
Abortion rights activists must convince judges to stop the enforcement of outdated laws, even though it is generally accepted that the amendment forbids the state from limiting abortions until they are viable.
Additionally, activists for reproductive rights are seeking to overturn Arizona’s 15-week abortion ban, which they claim violates the fundamental right to an abortion that voters have authorized.
Since Maryland already permits access to abortion, the state’s new abortion rights amendment won’t have an immediate impact. In Montana, where abortion is currently permitted up until viability, the scenario is comparable. In addition to upholding pre-existing access, Colorado’s legislation repealed a previous amendment that forbade state and local governments from supporting abortions, allowing state Medicaid and government employee insurance plans to cover care.
From Kansas City polling places to a courtroom
The two Planned Parenthood branches requested a judge to declare Missouri’s nearly complete abortion ban and the majority of its other abortion laws unenforceable the day after voters approved the amendment.
Andrew Bailey, the Republican attorney general, has previously acknowledged that the majority of abortions are now permitted. Last month, he expressed his position that he would not enforce Missouri’s law prohibiting abortions prior to viability.
However, among other regulations, his office continues to fight for restrictions on abortions based on race, sex, or a potential diagnosis of Down syndrome, a 72-hour waiting period before an abortion can be performed, and a requirement that medical facilities that perform abortions hold an ambulatory surgical center license.
Lawyers now struggle with outdated laws as a result of the modification.
For abortion providers, this patchwork of outdated laws is a major issue. They claim that even before Missouri passed a legislation outlawing abortions except in medical emergencies, just minutes after Roe was overturned, those restrictions had essentially prevented abortions throughout the majority of the state.
At the time, Dr. Iman Alsaden, the medical director of Planned Parenthood Great Plains, stated that we had already begun to live in a post-Roe world.
However, Missouri Solicitor General Josh Divine has supported these laws, claiming that the regulations are meant to allow women time to consider their options and that most women regret having an abortion.
After a court hearing on Wednesday, Divine stated, “What we are trying to do is create a situation where women can actually make the choice they want to do and we know that most of the time that is childbirth.”
Missourians demonstrated their support for reproductive rights at the polls, according to Wales of Planned Parenthood. She also voiced her displeasure with the Attorney General’s office, saying it has made it obvious that it will stop at nothing to deny Missourians their newfound constitutional right to reproductive freedom.
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Ballentine reported from Missouri’s Columbia.
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