A judge has issued an order allowing Missouri’s only abortion clinic to continue to provide the service, just hours before the St Louis Planned Parenthood clinic’s license to perform abortions was set to expire.
Planned Parenthood supporters gathered outside the clinic breathed a sigh of relief after the ruling from circuit judge Michael Stelzer. He issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting Missouri from allowing the license to lapse.
The threat to abortion services in Missouri came amid a growing push against women’s reproductive rights in the US, fuelled by rightwing Christians emboldened by the Trump presidency.
If the license had lapsed, Missouri would have become the first state without an abortion clinic since the landmark US supreme court’s 1973 decision legalizing abortion nationwide, known as Roe v Wade.
“Today is a victory for women across Missouri, but this fight is far from over,” Planned Parenthood’s president, Leana Wen, said in a statement. “We have seen just how vulnerable access to abortion care is here – and in the rest of the country.
“We are glad that the governor has been prevented from putting women’s health and lives in danger – for now – and call on him to stop this egregious politicalization of public health in an attempt to ban all safe, legal abortion care in the state.”
Protesters had gathered outside the clinic ahead of the ruling.
“I’m delighted,” said Maude Essen, a St Louis resident who lives a few blocks from the Forest Park Avenue facility. “This gives us a little breathing room.”
She and her friend, Mary Kuc, had stood on a corner near the clinic, where supporters and anti-abortion activists had gathered. A ruling against Planned Parenthood would have “taken us back to the 1970s”, Kuc said.
The Missouri department of health and senior services had declined to renew the license. It cited alleged concerns with “failed abortions”, compromised patient safety and legal violations at the clinic.
The health department is demanding interviews with all seven physicians practicing at the clinic, including trainees. Planned Parenthood, which already agreed to perform additional medically unnecessary pelvic exams on its patients before an abortion, has called the demands “harassment” and an attempt to intimidate providers.
Two-thirds of Americans support Roe v Wade, which ensures that abortion remains legal in all 50 US states, but that has not always meant it is accessible.
Several US states, including Missouri, have recently passed legislation which would severely limit access to abortion if enacted.
Earlier this month, Alabama’s Republican-controlled state senate passed a near-total ban on abortion, which would make it a crime to perform the procedure at any stage of pregnancy.
Speaking before the ruling, Wen told the Guardian that women’s healthcare is in a “state of emergency” in the United States.
“This is a terrifying time,” Wen said. “We have a situation not unlike a natural disaster, where people’s lives are in danger. Except this is manmade.”
Agencies contributed to this report
