Trial on Missouri abortion regulations to begin in Kansas City
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Day one of the trial on abortion regulations in Missouri is set to begin in Kansas City Monday morning.
Planned Parenthood is suing to permanently end the state's abortion laws. The trial will take place in the Jackson County Circuit Court, starting at 9 a.m. and is expected to run for two weeks. Abortion care will remain available to Missourians throughout the trial court process.
After voters approved the passage of Amendment 3 in November 2024, a Jackson County Judge put a pause on Missouri's enforcement of abortion restrictions a month later.
The judge's 22-page ruling temporarily blocks several state laws regulating the procedure. That includes Missouri's law banning abortions except for a medical emergency.
Planned Parenthood sued the state shortly after voters approved Amendment 3 in November, enshrining reproductive rights in the state's constitution. It called for the judge to block multiple laws and rules around abortion.
In May, the Missouri Supreme Court overruled the Jackson County judge, bringing restrictions back.
The ruling says that the judge applied the wrong legal standard when she approved a preliminary injunction in December 2024 to block the enforcement of state laws while the case is litigated.
The state's ban was then blocked again by the Jackson County judge, ruling that the “threat of irreparable harm is especially apparent in the context of abortion care” and that language from Missouri’s previous total abortion ban “is directly at odds with Amendment 3.”
The court issued the preliminary injunction against several medically unnecessary bans and restrictions that allowed Planned Parenthood providers to resume procedural abortion care in Columbia, Kansas City, and St. Louis.
Monday's trial will feature testimony from both anti-abortion and abortion-rights groups.
