National Right to Life
There’s been a flurry of activity since last Friday when the full 8th Circuit Court of Appeals placed a temporary stay on an order requiring the state of Missouri to issue licenses to additional abortion clinics. What follows is an overview of many actions, responses, and responses to the responses from the state, Planned Parenthood, and the Supreme Court.
Very briefly, here’s the background.
Citing the 2016 Supreme Court Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt decision [critiqued here], last April U.S. District Judge Howard Sachs struck down two Missouri laws–one requiring abortionists to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles, the other requiring abortion clinics to meet the requirements of ambulatory surgical centers.
Very briefly, here’s the background.
Citing the 2016 Supreme Court Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt decision [critiqued here], last April U.S. District Judge Howard Sachs struck down two Missouri laws–one requiring abortionists to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles, the other requiring abortion clinics to meet the requirements of ambulatory surgical centers.
Two weeks later he issued an order directing abortion clinic license applications “to be processed promptly, in light of patient needs, and without effective influence from opponents of abortion.”
The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services had no choice but to issue a license to the Midtown Kansas City health center which would offer chemical (RU-486) abortions. However the effect of the appeals court’s temporary stay was to temporary halt the Abortion Industry’s plans to begin providing abortions elsewhere– in Columbia, Springfield, and Joplin.
Which brings us to Planned Parenthood’s appeal to the Supreme Court to reinstate Judge Sach’s lower court order blocking the state from enforcing the requirements. Their argument was simple:
The two Missouri abortion requirements are “virtually identical” to the Texas regulations the Supreme Court struck down in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt. The appeal went to the newest justice, Neil Gorsuch, because he had been assigned the U.S. Eighth Circuit, which includes Missouri.
The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services had no choice but to issue a license to the Midtown Kansas City health center which would offer chemical (RU-486) abortions. However the effect of the appeals court’s temporary stay was to temporary halt the Abortion Industry’s plans to begin providing abortions elsewhere– in Columbia, Springfield, and Joplin.
Which brings us to Planned Parenthood’s appeal to the Supreme Court to reinstate Judge Sach’s lower court order blocking the state from enforcing the requirements. Their argument was simple:
The two Missouri abortion requirements are “virtually identical” to the Texas regulations the Supreme Court struck down in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt. The appeal went to the newest justice, Neil Gorsuch, because he had been assigned the U.S. Eighth Circuit, which includes Missouri.
According to the News-Leader, this gives Gorsuch the power to grant or reject applications for stays and injunctions emanating from Missouri. If Gorsuch accepts Planned Parenthood’s application and vacates the appellate court ruling, the organization would seem free to continue pursuing its abortion expansion. If not, Planned Parenthood could appeal to the Supreme Court.Justice Gorsuch ordered the state of Missouri to respond this week, which Attorney General Josh Hawley did Thursday in a 45-page brief.
Hawley said in a statement, “Missouri’s flexible, commonsense regulations promote women’s health and safety, and I will vigorously defend them,” adding, “Today, my Office is doing exactly that in the United States Supreme Court.”National Right to Life continues
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