Battle Over Missouri’s Sole Abortion Clinic To Go To Administrative Panel In August, But Injunction Expires Friday
If nothing is done before tomorrow, the state could, for at least a short amount of time, become the first in the nation without a clinic performing abortions. A judge tossed the case over to an administrative panel, which decides cases related to state agencies on more than 100 issues, including professional licensing. Abortion news also comes out of Texas, Arkansas and Kentucky.
A Missouri commission charged with determining the fate of the state鈥檚 last abortion clinic will hear the case in August, weeks after the expiration, set for Friday evening, of the injunction that has kept the clinic operating.Lawyers representing the Reproductive Health Services of Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region filed a motion to the state鈥檚 Administrative Hearing Commission Tuesday asking it to allow the clinic to continue operating as an abortion provider, as the commission considers the case. (Calfas, 6/26)
Texas lawmakers' latest move to block public money from going to abortion providers and their affiliates is creating a murky picture for the future of women鈥檚 health care and some community health programs in Texas. That includes some services unrelated to abortion and reproductive health, like sharing information about sexual health on college campuses or helping local governments prevent disease outbreaks. Senate Bill 22, which goes into effect Sept. 1, prohibits government entities from providing anything of value to an abortion clinic or an affiliate, even if the money isn鈥檛 explicitly for abortions or the clinic doesn鈥檛 perform the procedure. (Korte, 6/27)
Abortion rights supporters on Wednesday challenged an Arkansas law banning the procedure 18 weeks into a woman's pregnancy and another requirement that they say would likely force the closure of the state's only surgical abortion clinic. In all, the lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and Planned Parenthood targets three abortion restrictions and asks a federal judge to block them before they take effect July 24. (6/26)
A聽new Kentucky law聽takes effect Thursday that聽requires doctors to tell patients that some abortions can be reversed, a claim disputed by the medical establishment,聽even as a similar law in another state faces聽a legal challenge from two national organizations. Senate Bill 50, which聽passed in Kentucky's 2019 legislative session, requires doctors聽to counsel patients seeking聽to terminate an early-stage pregnancy with medication聽that the process can be reversed by a different medication. (6/26)
