Judge Again Blocks Missouri Anti-Abortion Laws

| 0

Jackson County Circuit Judge Jerri Zhang reimposed a preliminary injunction against many Missouri restrictions on abortion a little more than a month after the state Supreme Court said Zhang’s earlier rulings were issued using the wrong standard.

Missouri’s abortion ban came from a law that was triggered when the federal Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in its Dobbs decision in 2022. In November 2024, voters amended the state constitution to guarantee the right to abortion until fetal viability.

Zhang reconsidered, then issued fresh preliminary injunctions against the abortion ban and reinstated a hold on various other laws. Those include a 72-hour waiting period before getting an abortion, many special licensing requirements for facilities that provide abortions, and a requirement that doctors who perform abortions must have admitting privileges at specific kinds of hospitals within 30 miles or 15 minutes of where the doctors perform abortions.

Abortions induced by medication rather than done as a medical procedure were not addressed by Zhang’s orders.

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey said his office “will expeditiously appeal this ruling.” The legislature, which has a Republican majority, is working to put a new amendment for the state constitution on the ballot as soon as it can, aiming to establish a new abortion ban with exceptions where rape or incest caused a pregnancy.

Click here for more details.