Missouri Court Rules in Favor of Planned Parenthood’s Sweeping Attack on Pro-Life Laws – But the Fight Isn’t Over

Today is a hard day for the unborn children of Missouri. But it is not the last day of this fight – not by a long shot. Today, a Jackson County circuit court issued its final judgment in Comprehensive Health of Planned Parenthood Great Plains v. State of Missouri – and Planned Parenthood is celebrating. However, it shouldn’t celebrate for too long. Because the ACLJ is already looking ahead to the Missouri Supreme Court – and we are not backing down.

As our team reported last December, we have been in this courtroom shoulder to shoulder with Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway, standing against Planned Parenthood’s sweeping attempt to dismantle nearly every commonsense protection Missouri law affords to women and unborn children. It is relying on Missouri’s Amendment 3, which enshrined abortion in the state constitution. Our attorneys were in that courtroom for every single day of a 10-day bench trial, and we sat across from Planned Parenthood’s well-funded legal army. We deposed their doctors. We presented the evidence. We stood for life. And we are not finished.

Attorney General Hanaway said it plainly after today’s ruling:

This radical decision gives abortion providers a free pass to police themselves. Women are no longer entitled to the same level of care in an abortion clinic that they would receive in other healthcare settings: providers are no longer required to maintain complication plans or insurance, and the state cannot even conduct basic health and safety inspections to ensure patient safety, . . .

None of this is what Missourians voted for. My office will expeditiously appeal this dangerous decision to the Missouri Supreme Court, and I will never stop fighting for the safety of women and children.

She is right. She has already announced she will appeal – expeditiously – to the Missouri Supreme Court. The ACLJ will be right there with her.

Take action with us as we appeal this decision. Sign our petition: Defeat Planned Parenthood in Court – Save Babies.

What We Won

We still had some pro-life victories in the process. The court refused to strike down Missouri’s physician-only law. Planned Parenthood wanted a ruling that would open the door to non-physicians – physician assistants and nurse practitioners – performing abortions, including complex surgical procedures. The court said no. A physician’s training and expertise matter. Women’s lives depend on it. That is a significant pro-life victory.

The court also upheld Missouri’s in-person visit requirement for medication abortion. This is enormous. The evidence presented at trial was clear: In-person appointments are a medical necessity. They confirm gestational age. They ensure that powerful chemical abortion drugs are appropriate for the patient. They catch ectopic pregnancies before they become life-threatening emergencies. Planned Parenthood wanted to eliminate this requirement so they could mail abortion pills to women with no examination, no oversight, and no accountability. The court said no.

The court also upheld the same-physician requirement and the law against interference with medical assistance at abortion facilities. These are wins for women, even if Planned Parenthood will never acknowledge them as such.

What Was Struck Down – And Why It Matters

Unfortunately, the court struck down Missouri’s abortion ban. It struck down the gestational-age bans. These were the crown jewels of Missouri’s pro-life legal framework – protections that this state fought for decades to put in place, protections that saved lives. Gone, for now, because Missouri voters were sold a constitutional amendment – Amendment 3 – that was deliberately written to be as broad and as destructive as possible. Planned Parenthood knew exactly what it was doing when it pushed that amendment. Today’s ruling shows it.

The court struck down the 72-hour waiting period. Think about that. Missouri law gave women three days to receive information, reflect, and make a fully informed decision before an irreversible procedure. Planned Parenthood fought to eliminate even that. And today it won that fight.

The court struck down Missouri’s informed consent materials – materials that included medically accurate, scientifically grounded descriptions of fetal development and a statement that life begins at conception. Planned Parenthood doesn’t want women to know what an abortion actually destroys. Today, a court helped the abortion giant keep women in the dark.

The court struck down the requirement that medication abortion providers have an OB-GYN on call around the clock to treat complications. It struck down abortion facility licensing requirements that ensured clean, safe, accountable clinics. It struck down admitting-privileges requirements that guaranteed a woman could be transferred safely to a hospital in an emergency. It struck down the pathology requirement that ensured aborted tissue was examined by a certified pathologist. It struck down criminal penalties for those who violate these laws.

Strip away the legal jargon, and here is what Planned Parenthood accomplished: It moved Missouri toward a world in which abortion is unregulated, unaccountable, and unrestricted. The abortion industry calls that freedom. We call it a tragedy – for unborn children and for the women the abortion industry exploits.

This Goes to the Missouri Supreme Court – And We Will Be There

The trial court itself signaled what comes next, noting in its ruling that it resolved this matter quickly so “the parties may continue their litigation journey to the Missouri Supreme Court.” That journey is beginning now.

The ACLJ will be there every step of the way. We will stand with Missouri’s Attorney General. We will defend every protection that can be defended. We will push back on every overreach. We will make the case – before the highest Court in Missouri – that the voters who passed Amendment 3 did not vote to hand Planned Parenthood a blank check to operate without any oversight, any accountability, or any regard for the women walking through their doors.

Planned Parenthood has more lawyers, more money, and more media allies than we can count. But we have something they don’t: the truth. The truth that every unborn child is a human life deserving of protection. The truth that women deserve real information, real medical oversight, and real care. The truth is that Missouri’s pro-life laws were not obstacles to women’s health – they were safeguards for it.

Take action. Sign our petition: Defeat Planned Parenthood in Court – Save Babies.