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A state judge opened the door for Missourians to access medication abortion in a Thursday ruling that comes over a year after state residents voted to legalize abortion access.
Missouri circuit judge Jerri Zhang sided with Planned Parenthood in its lawsuit challenging the state’s 30 statutes limiting abortion access. The organization sued the state a day after Missouri voters chose to overturn a near-total state abortion ban in 2024.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Director of Litigation Gillian Wilcox called the ruling a “monumental win for reproductive freedom and abortion access” in a Thursday statement.
Missouri voters will face a referendum vote this November, which would repeal the previous abortion amendment approved in 2024 and limit abortion access to medical emergencies or in cases of rape and incest. Wilcox urged residents to vote against this measure in the upcoming election.
“Today’s decision is a reminder that politicians are trying to strip us of our right to reproductive freedom, and Missourians must reject Amendment 3 at the ballot this November or we could lose the access we gained today,” Wilcox wrote.
Emily Wales, the president and CEO of Comprehensive Health of Planned Parenthood Great Plains, applauded the Thursday ruling.
“This decision brings compassion and common sense back to Missouri health care,” she said in a statement. “For too long, politicians forced patients to leave the state for an evidence-based and trusted form of abortion care. Now, that care is coming home and with it, we move closer to fulfilling the promise of reproductive freedom Missourians demanded.”
Republican Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway said that her “heart is broken by today’s ruling” in a social media post on Thursday evening.
“This radical decision gives abortion providers a free pass to police themselves,” she wrote. “Women are no longer entitled to the same level of care in an abortion clinic that they would receive in other healthcare settings: providers are no longer required to maintain complication plans or insurance, and the state cannot even conduct basic health and safety inspections to ensure patient safety.”
Hanaway said that her office plans to “expeditiously appeal” the decision to the state’s high court.
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