Federal Judge To Rule On Request For Temporary Injunction Against Enforcing Missouri Abortion-Related Law

Main Category: Abortion
Also Included In: Litigation / Medical Malpractice;  Women's Health / Gynecology
Article Date: 28 Aug 2007 - 9:00 PST

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Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri would have to end abortion services at clinics in Columbia and Kansas City if a new Missouri law (SB 370) is allowed to take effect Thursday, PPKM CEO Peter Brownlie testified at a federal court hearing Thursday, the Kansas City Star reports (Morris, Kansas City Star, 8/23).

The law will designate facilities performing second- or third-trimester abortions or more than five first-trimester abortions each month as "ambulatory surgical centers." Clinics designated as ambulatory surgical centers are subject to increased regulation from the state Department of Health and Senior Services. The law will require that hallways be at least six feet wide and doors at least 44 inches wide. The clinics must also have separate male and female changing rooms for staff and a recovery room with space for a minimum of four beds with three feet of clearance around each bed. The health department said the law requires that three clinics in the state be licensed as ambulatory surgical centers.

PPKM on Monday filed a lawsuit that asks a federal court to block enforcement of the law. The suit alleges that the new regulations are unnecessary and are not meant to improve safety, but to interfere with a woman's constitutional right to abortion. PPKM in the suit also is asking that its Columbia and Kansas City clinics be exempt from the law because they were open before the law was passed (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 8/21). Brownlie on Thursday said the high costs of upgrading the clinics to comply with the law would force them to stop providing abortion services (Kansas City Star, 8/23). U.S. District Judge Ortrie Smith said he would rule on the request for a temporary injunction by Monday (Stafford, AP/Forbes, 8/23).

Smith noted quotes from elected officials and press releases about the law, adding, "Let's be real. The purpose of the legislation was to make abortions more difficult for women to obtain." State Assistant Attorney General Michael Pritchett replied, "This legislation was written to improve the standards for women who are seeking abortions." According to the Star, lawyers representing the state said the new regulations would not place a burden on women seeking abortion because abortions services are available in neighboring states (Kansas City Star, 8/23).

Missouri Health Director Hires Private Lawyers To Prosecute Case
Missouri Health Director Jane Drummond on Wednesday in a letter to state Attorney General Jay Nixon (D) said she would be using a private law firm rather than the attorney general's office to defend PPKM's challenge to the law, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. Drummond has hired two lawyers from the Kansas City-based conservative religious group Alliance Defense Fund to defend the case. The lawyers, Dale Schowengerdt and Kevin Theriot, are not charging the state for their work (St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 8/23).

Drummond in the letter to Nixon said that she is using separate counsel because Nixon has "been an outspoken supporter of abortion on demand and a political ally of Planned Parenthood." She also wrote, "I did not believe I could trust you to defend me and my department vigorously" (Lieb, AP/Springfield News-Leader, 8/23). The Missouri Republican Party on Tuesday said that Nixon, who is running against Gov. Matt Blunt (R) in the 2008 gubernatorial race, had a conflict of interest in the case, citing the attorney general's decision in the 1990s to allow state funds to be used to hire a private lawyer to defend a Missouri law against a challenge by Planned Parenthood. Scott Holste, a spokesperson for Nixon, said the case is "about law, not politics."

Schowengerdt said he and Theriot "have every intention to work with the attorney general and defend this law together" (St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 8/23). Pritchett on Thursday said Nixon believes his office should lead the prosecution of the case. The attorneys for Drummond appeared at the hearing Thursday and presented testimony from Elizabeth Shadigian, an ob-gyn at the University of Michigan, about the risks of medical abortion drugs, the Star reports. According to the Star, PPKM's Kansas City clinic only provides drugs for medical abortions, while the Columbia clinic also provides first-trimester surgical abortions (Kansas City Star, 8/23).

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