A Missouri Planned Parenthood clinic will soon resume its abortion activities after meeting licensing requirements it previously did not fulfill.
The Kansas City abortion clinic ceased providing medical abortion services March 29 after its physician with hospital admitting privileges left the clinic. The physician’s exit rendered health officials unable to conduct an inspection of the clinic in June.
The clinic’s operational license expired Aug. 10, KCUR reported on Aug. 24. The facility has been unable to legally offer medical abortions since then.
“Now that Planned Parenthood has met the requirement of having a physician to perform abortions, the Department anticipates that the facility’s license will be forthcoming,” Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services department director, Randall Williams, said in a Tuesday statement. “Ensuring regulatory compliance is a key component of our fundamental mission to protect health and keep people safe.”
Planned Parenthood sued the state in October 2017, asking the court to block Missouri’s law requiring abortion clinics have contracts with physicians who can admit patients to the hospital in cases of emergency. Planned parenthood claimed the law is unnecessary and puts an undue burden on women seeking abortions. A federal judge denied Planned Parenthood’s request in June, ruling that the abortion organization had not shown the law imposed “a substantial burden” for women seeking medical abortions, according to KCUR. (RELATED: Planned Parenthood Is Suing State of Missouri, Again)
The case will go to trial in 2019.
A Missouri judge also ruled in October that the state’s 72-hour waiting period is constitutional, rejecting Planned Parenthood’s emergency motion for a temporary restraining order on the law.
Health department officials will now conduct an inspection of the facility to ensure that it meets the law’s requirements and will provide the clinic with a license thereafter so that it may resume its abortion services.
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