A Missouri judge on Friday enjoined the state from enforcing several provisions of its nearly total ban on abortion following the enactment of Amendment 3 to the Missouri Constitution. Photo by Activedia/Pixabay
A state judge ruled Missouri’s nearly total abortion ban violates the state’s Constitution as amended by voters on Nov. 5 and partially blocked enforcement of the abortion law.
Jackson County Circuit Court Judge Jerri Zhang on Friday enjoined enforcement of Missouri’s 72-hour waiting period to abort a fetus after consulting with a doctor and several other provisions violate voter-approved Amendment 3. Advertisement
The amendment took effect earlier in December and made abortion legal until a fetus could survive on its own if removed from the mother’s womb.
Zhang said the amended Missouri Constitution no longer supports the state’s nearly total abortion ban.
State law says “no abortion shall be performed or induced upon a woman, except in cases of medical emergency” and makes it a felony violation to do so.
“The court finds the plain language of this statute is directly at odds with Amendment 3,” Zhang said in her ruling on Friday.
“State defendants have not demonstrated that the statute is justified by a compelling governmental interest achieved by the least restrictive means,” Zhang said.
She said “being subject to an unconstitutional statute” for “even minimal periods of time” creates a “threat of irreparable harm.” Advertisement
“The parties do not articulate, and this court does not find, that issuance of this injunction would inflict harm or injury on other interest parties,” Zhang said.
Zhang specifically stopped enforcement of section 188.017 of Missouri’s abortion law, which makes it a felony and requires the suspension or revocation of medical licenses for doctors who perform abortions on women at eight, 14, 18 and 20 weeks gestational ages or later, except in cases of medical emergencies.
Zhang said section 188 of the state’s abortion ban infringes on a woman’s “autonomous decision making” and violates Amendment 3’s “provision prohibiting the penalization and prosecution of a person based on pregnancy outcomes.”
Because the state did not show a compelling government interest in continuing the nearly total abortion ban and a threat of irreparable harm exists if the ban were allowed to continue, Zhang said issuing the injunction would not harm or injure other interested parties.
Planned Parenthood filed the legal challenge to Missouri’s abortion ban after Amendment 3 became law.
