Planned Parenthood lawsuit challenges Missouri abortion laws

The Supreme Court’s Whole Woman’s Health decision also affirmed that states can not pass sham restrictions on abortion; less than one day after issuing their ruling in Whole Woman’s Health, the Supreme Court refused to review similar clinic shutdown laws from MS and Wisconsin that had been invalidated by lower courts that found they imposed on undue burden on women seeking abortions.

The case was filed the same day that Planned Parenthood groups across the country filed lawsuits in Alaska and Missouri, making similar challenges against laws they contend are created to restrict a woman’s right to an abortion.

The Alaska case challenges a 40-year-old restriction that makes it virtually impossible for outpatient health centers to provide abortions after the first trimester, in effect forcing women to travel out of state if they need a second-trimester abortion.

Abortion opponents, including Susan Klein with Missouri Right to Life, say Texas’ laws are different from Missouri’s laws.

As for President-elect Trump, he made clear during the primaries that he is committed to defunding PP because his position on abortion (which he said had evolved over time), but he was also the only Republican who defended the group saying, “millions of women are helped by Planned Parenthood”. Among others, they require women to wait 72 hours between visiting a doctor and having an abortion; require parental consent for minors; and prohibit the use of telemedicine in medication abortions. “States can not ban abortion”.

The affiliates filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday challenging requirements that abortion clinics meet standards for surgical centers and that their doctors have privileges in nearby hospitals. To reach that clinic in St. Louis, some women must drive more than 300 miles, Planned Parenthood officials said.

In Missouri, there is only one clinic left in St Louis that is fitted up to the level required by state government to carry out abortions.

“Since the June decision of the Supreme Court, we have been preparing to strike down those very similar laws that since 2007 have been tremendous barriers to abortion access in the state of Missouri“, McQuade said. Due in part to Fr. Linton’s faithful presence and success at saving babies, the abortion facility recently built a wall in an attempt to hinder sidewalk counselors and prevent them from speaking to mothers and fathers in the parking lot.

After reports earlier this year that Texas Christian University has close ties with Planned Parenthood, there’s news of another university in a similar situation.

Seeking to expand on that decision, pro-abortion groups filed the three lawsuits on Wednesday. The Columbia Planned Parenthood location provided medical abortions, according to previous Missourian reporting. The restriction, she said, has hampered her ability to provide her best care to her patients.

In the early moments of the 30-plus minute, post-election radio interview, in responding to a statement by an interviewer that Trump allegedly wants to reverse the landmark Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion throughout the USA rather than leaving it up to individual states to decide for themselves, Cannon offered this response.

Dan Margolies, editor of the Heartland Health Monitor team, is based at KCUR.