COLUMBIA: Abortions are set to resume in Missouri after a judge blocked regulations that had restricted providers even after voters approved enshrining abortion rights into the state’s Constitution, reported AP.
The ruling, it said, came after a Kansas City judge ruled last year that abortions were now legal in the state but kept certain regulations on the books while a lawsuit by abortion-rights advocates played out.
That meant abortion facilities still had to be licensed by the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.
Planned Parenthood argued that the licensing law required providers to give “medically unnecessary and invasive” pelvic exams to anyone receiving an abortion, including medication abortions, according to court documents. It also included “medically irrelevant” size requirements for hallways, rooms and doors.
The plaintiffs said some of the regulations on Planned Parenthood centres were so strict, “most health centers or doctors’ office simply do not meet” them.
Jackson County Circuit Judge Jerri Zhang said in her ruling that the licensing requirement is “facially discriminatory because it does not treat services provided in abortion facilities the same as other types of similarly situated healthcare, including miscarriage care.”
