JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Missouri Supreme Court opened the door Tuesday to abortions being halted again in a tumultuous legal saga after voters struck down the state’s abortion ban last November.
The state’s top court ruled that a district judge applied the wrong standard in rulings in December and February that allowed abortions to resume in the state for the first time since they were nearly completely halted under a ban that took effect after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.
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In Tuesday’s two-page ruling, the court ordered Judge Jerri Zhang to vacate her earlier orders and re-evaluate the case using the standards the court laid out.
The state emphasized in their petition filed to the state Supreme Court in March that Planned Parenthood didn’t sufficiently prove women were harmed without the temporary blocks on the broad swath of laws and regulations on abortion services and providers. On the contrary, the state said Zhang’s decisions left abortion facilities “functionally unregulated” and women with “no guarantee of health and safety.”
Sam Lee, director of Campaign Life Missouri, said he was “extremely excited” by the Supreme Court order.
“This means that our pro-life laws, which include many health and safety protections for women, will remain in place,” Lee said. “How long they will remain we will have to see. But for right now, we would expect that Planned Parenthood would stop doing any abortions until the court rules otherwise.”
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