Reproductive Rights

As of 8 a.m. Monday morning, abortions were once again available in Columbia. The procedure has been inaccessible to those living in mid-Missouri since the last abortion was performed at the Columbia Planned Parenthood clinic in 2018.

LGBTQ rights activists and lawyers will hold a clinic on March 5 to help couples set up a power of attorney free of charge. Many LGBTQ couples are worried that a conservative challenge could overturn the U.S. Supreme Court’s Obergefell v Hodges ruling.

A Kansas City judge on Friday ruled that licensing requirements that were keeping clinics from providing abortions were discriminatory. Planned Parenthood Great Rivers this week will begin offering its first abortion appointments in years.

The move comes months after Missourians voted to enshrine abortion access in the state constitution.

The Rolla City Council turned away a first effort to make the city the first in the state to declare itself a “Sanctuary City for the Unborn.”

Anti-abortion rights groups and politicians argued before the November election that Amendment 3 would block most abortion restrictions. But Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey is now arguing it doesn’t overturn some restrictions on clinics.

Religious leaders had challenged the state’s near-total ban on the grounds it contained explicitly religious language.

Clinics in states where most abortions are legal, are reporting an influx of inquiries from patients in states such as Missouri — and are expanding in response.

The campaign behind the reproductive-rights amendment plans to appeal the decision, and as part of the judge’s stipulations, Amendment 3 will not yet be taken off the ballot

With millions in expanded tax credits and direct state funding going to anti-abortion groups, the nonprofit Coalition Life has expanded its operations beyond Missouri and into states where the procedure is still legal.