KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A circuit court judge struck down Missouri’s total abortion ban and most medically unnecessary restrictions including bans based on gestational time, the use of telemedicine for medication abortion, and burdensome State-mandated waiting periods and biased counseling requirements. These anti-abortion restrictions were enjoined because a majority of Missouri voters passed Amendment 3 in November.
Hospitals across the state will now be able to provide abortion and miscarriage care, including to patients who experience life-threatening complications during pregnancy, without the threat of the government imposing criminal penalties.
“This decision blocking Missouri’s total abortion ban and several medically unnecessary restrictions is the first step toward realizing the promise of Missourians’ new constitutional right to reproductive freedom,” said Gillian Wilcox, Director of Litigation at the ACLU of Missouri. “While the decision will not allow for the plaintiffs to immediately open their doors to provide care because some medically unnecessary restrictions still remain in effect, hospital-based providers across the state are able to provide more care today than they could yesterday now that the fear of criminal prosecution has been removed. We will continue to fight until Missourians’ constitutional rights are fully recognized by the courts.”
On November 5th, Missouri voters approved Amendment 3, which amended the state constitution to provide a fundamental right to reproductive freedom. The ruling makes Missouri the first state to end a total abortion ban that had been in effect.
While the ruling strikes down a majority of the restrictions that plaintiffs requested be blocked, it does allow some restrictions to remain in place. Missouri’s physical facility licensure requirement targets abortion clinics by forcing providers like Planned Parenthood to obtain a license from the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (MDHSS), unlike other doctor’s offices. Furthermore, it allows MDHSS to create and enforce additional restrictions that in the past have been used to deny licensing to facilities that provided abortion care.
The case, Comprehensive Health of Planned Parenthood Great Plains and Planned Parenthood Great Rivers v. State of Missouri, was brought within 24 hours of Missouri voters passing the Right to Reproductive Freedom Initiative, which appeared as Amendment 3 on the 2024 General Election ballot. The amendment creates and protects the fundamental right to reproductive freedom, which is the right to make and carry out decisions about all matters relating to reproductive health care, including prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, birth control, abortion care, miscarriage care, and respectful birthing conditions.