Judge Gives Last Abortion Clinic in Missouri Yet Another Chance to Get Its Act Together

Missouri's only remaining abortion provider is allowed to continue aborting unborn babies – for now. St. Louis Circuit Judge Michael Stelzer made that decision Monday. 

Planned Parenthood in Saint Louis can provide abortions through at least Friday. 

Missouri is among half a dozen states that have recently passed sweeping pro-life measures.

The judge's decision comes even though the state's health department refused to issue a license renewal for the clinic last week after a variety of dangerous incidents. 

Health department officials have cited concerns at the clinic, including that three "failed abortions" required additional surgeries, and another led to life-threatening complications.

Despite those concerns, the judge extended an injunction giving the abortion provider more time to fight for licensing.

Clinic leaders say the license fight is part of an effort by the pro-life state administration to eliminate abortions.

But the judge also decided that this fight isn't one to be fought in court and told Planned Parenthood to take their case to an administrative panel for a final decision on the matter.

So the St. Louis Planned Parenthood affiliate went ahead and filed a complaint Monday against the state's health department, hoping Missouri's Administrative Hearing Commission will overturn the health department's decision. A Democrat-appointed commissioner named Sreenivasa Rao Dandamudi will be handling the case.  

TO HAVE YOUR VOICE HEARD ON ABORTION GO HERE TO PROTECT THE UNBORN.

CBN News previously reported that the fight over the clinic's license comes as lawmakers in many conservative states are passing new restrictions that take aim at Roe.  

Abortion opponents, encouraged by the presence of new conservative justices on the Supreme Court, are hoping federal courts will uphold new state laws that prohibit abortions in a variety of cases, like instances when the unborn person's heartbeat is detected.

Meanwhile, if the Missouri Planned Parenthood clinic loses its license, it would reportedly be the first state without an abortion clinic in nearly 50 years.

But it turns out that more Missouri women seek abortions in neighboring states than in Missouri in the first place. In Kansas, about 3,300 of the 7,000 abortions performed in 2018 were for Missouri residents, according to the state's health department. 

The number of abortions performed in Missouri have declined every year for the past decade, reaching a low of 2,910 last year.