Planned Parenthood

The Missouri Attorney General's Office renewed its attempts to access abortion patient records as the state tries to build a case in favor of strict abortion regulations

Advocates in Missouri head to court today to argue that the state is unconstitutionally blocking access to abortion care — more than a year after voters chose to overturn the statewide ban. And this trial is all happening as another statewide vote on abortion looms later this year.

Missouri voters enshrined the right to an abortion in 2024, but several abortion restrictions remain state law. A Jackson County judge temporarily blocked those laws, and Planned Parenthood is now seeking to permanently strike those laws to ease abortion access.

Abortion rights advocates are headed to trial next week to argue that Missouri’s regulations on reproductive health care violate the state’s constitution. The passage of Amendment 3 in 2024 protects the right to abortion care, but existing regulations and legal challenges have made access limited.

The newly released state data shows it’s the second consecutive year abortions in Kansas have exceeded annual numbers prior to 2022, when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

The health care provider is closing its brick-and-mortar location in Rolla, citing attacks on health care access and funding by Missouri lawmakers. Planned Parenthood did not provide abortion services at that facility.

Abortion may be legal again in Missouri, but only 80 elective abortions have been performed in the year since Amendment 3 passed. Decades of restrictions have gutted the state’s provider network, and medication abortion is still unavailable as the courts sort out which old laws are constitutional.

Former Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey argued that reinstating the state's abortion regulations would not cause "irreparable harm" to patients. The appeals court rejected that claim, allowing Planned Parenthood clinics in Kansas City, Columbia and St. Louis to continue offering services.

A Jackson County judge determined the nonprofit did not have standing to sue Missouri over the parental consent law. But she did not draw any conclusions about whether the restriction is unconstitutional under the abortion rights amendment passed by voters last year.

The office of Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway is subpoenaing patient medical records, incident reports, “adverse event documentation” and more from Planned Parenthood. The organization called the request "nothing more than an attempt to harass" them and is fighting back in court.

Former Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey and Republican attorneys general from Kansas and Idaho intervened in a case aimed at challenging the safety of mifepristone. After the U.S. Supreme Court said that anti-abortion groups couldn’t sue, Missouri became the lead plaintiff.

Despite Missourians voting to legalize abortion 10 months ago, Planned Parenthood remains unable to prescribe abortion medication — the most common kind of abortion — to patients.