Judge plans to block Missouri's abortion-restricting rules
Source: Associated Press
Judge plans to block Missouri's abortion-restricting rules
By JIM SUHR
Apr. 5, 2017 3:16 PM EDT
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) A federal judge says he plans to issue a preliminary injunction to block abortion-restricting rules in Missouri similar to ones in Texas that the U.S. Supreme Court struck down last year.
U.S. District Judge Howard F. Sachs announced his move in a memo filed Tuesday in Kansas City, Missouri. He said he would give the state time to craft a plan for patients to avoid unintended "collateral damage" from the injunction, which was sought by Planned Parenthood.
Sachs wrote that his ruling would invalidate Missouri's requirements that doctors who perform abortions have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals, and that clinics meet hospital-like standards for outpatient surgery.
Planned Parenthood affiliates with Missouri health centers sued over those restrictions last November, five months after the nation's high court threw out similar Texas rules that sharply reduced the number of abortion clinics there. The Supreme Court, in its 5-3 ruling, rejected Texas' claims that its 2013 law and follow-up regulations were needed to safeguard women's health.
"Missouri has not complied with that decision," Sachs, who heard arguments in the Missouri lawsuit on March 21, wrote in Tuesday's memo.
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