Tensions High As Missouri Awaits Decision On Missouri's Sole Abortion Clinic

The battle over abortion rights in Missouri spilled from the courtroom into city streets on Thursday as hundreds of people gathered near the St. Louis Arch to demand state officials stop trying to limit access to abortion.

Carrying signs that read “I Stand With Planned Parenthood” and “Protect Safe, Legal Abortion,” they were there to protest the state’s efforts to limit access to abortion and the potential closing of the state’s only abortion provider.

The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services and Planned Parenthood have been in a standoff over the clinic’s license, and today its future is in the hands of St. Louis Circuit Court Judge Michael Stelzer.

The judge is expected to rule soon on Planned Parenthood’s request for a temporary restraining order barring the state from delaying a renewal of the clinic’s license, which expires at midnight. Without it, Reproductive Health Services of Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region would close.

https://news.stlpublicradio.org/post/tensions-high-missouri-awaits-decision-missouris-sole-abortion-clinic