The Missouri Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to take up Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s request to reinstate restrictions on abortion in the state, ordering him to turn to a state appeals court instead.
Bailey was hoping the state’s highest court would block a temporary injunction issued by Jackson County Circuit Judge Jerri Zhang on July 3 that allowed surgical abortions to resume in Missouri.
Zhang’s injunction pointed to the constitutional amendment approved by Missouri voters last year enshrining the right to an abortion in the state constitution. The attorney general contends Zhang abused her discretion in issuing the injunction.
In a 7-0 ruling Tuesday, the Supreme Court said Bailey should not have skipped the court of appeals in his quest to overturn Zhang’s order.
“For this reason, this court transfers the case to the court of appeals, where appellate jurisdiction properly lies,” wrote Judge Mary Russell.
The current fight over abortion rights has been a state question since 2022, when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the landmark 1973 Roe v Wade decision. The decision triggered a law that banned all abortions in the state except in cases of medical emergency that endangered a woman’s life.
In response, voters last year approved Amendment 3, legalizing abortion up until the point of fetal viability. But because the amendment did not directly repeal state laws banning or regulating abortion, Comprehensive Health of Planned Parenthood Great Plains, based in Kansas City, and Planned Parenthood Great Rivers, based in St. Louis, sued to block enforcement of those laws.
Zhang has not yet ruled on the lawsuit, but did issue the temporary injunction preventing the state from enforcing numerous regulations, including a 72-hour waiting period and special licensing laws applying only to abortion facilities.
The order keeps in place rules that only doctors can provide abortion services and that the woman seeking an abortion must have an in-person appointment.
This story was originally published by the Missouri Independent.
