Overview
- Jackson County Judge Jerri Zhang issued a permanent judgment Thursday that found numerous state restrictions conflict with the voter-approved 2024 reproductive-rights amendment.
- The decision invalidated targeted clinic rules including special licensing, a telemedicine ban that required a doctor to be present when pills were taken, hospital admitting-privilege rules, and the 72-hour waiting period.
- Planned Parenthood and ACLU plaintiffs said the ruling allows medication abortion to be offered inside Missouri for the first time since 2018, with clinics beginning to schedule in-person medication-abortion appointments next week.
- Judge Zhang left in place a requirement that patients meet a physician in person before receiving medication and upheld a rule that only physicians may perform abortions, preserving some limits on access.
- The attorney general has pledged an expedited appeal to the Missouri Supreme Court and the legislature has advanced a competing November ballot measure that could again restrict abortion, so the outcome remains unsettled.