Federal judge denies Planned Parenthood’s request to block state law

A federal judge rejected Planned Parenthood’s request Friday for the court to block a state regulation that the organization says is preventing it from getting a license to perform local abortions.

Comprehensive Health of Planned Parenthood Great Plains filed the renewed motion for a preliminary injunction in its case against the state of Missouri in December. The clinic’s license to perform abortions expired in October after a federal judge declined to renew it.

Planned Parenthood filed a lawsuit in November 2016 challenging the state’s requirement that a doctor with admitting privileges at a local hospital perform abortions, but Judge Brian Wimes ruled in October that the clinic was in violation of other regulations that would also prevent it from acquiring a license.

The expiration of the license reduced the number of clinics licensed to perform abortions in the state to one.

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