93.9 The Eagle – The News and Talk of Columbia, MO
(AP) – The battle over Missouri’s only abortion clinic is back in court Friday, the deadline a judge imposed for the state to decide whether to renew the clinic’s license.
Missouri’s health department allowed the St. Louis Planned Parenthood clinic’s abortion license to lapse effective June 1. Rulings by St. Louis Circuit Judge Michael Stelzer allowed the clinic to temporarily remain open.
Stelzer also told the state it can’t simply let the license lapse but must either renew it or deny it. He gave the health department until Friday to decide. That decision could be announced at the court hearing.
According to Planned Parenthood, no state has been without a functioning abortion clinic since 1974, the year after the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion nationwide.
