The clinic can continue to provide abortions in Missouri, according to the rules of the judge



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If the clinic were to stop providing abortion services, Missouri would have been the first state in the country to block the operation for more than 45 years.

A lawsuit against the state was filed earlier this week by the St. Louis Region Family Planning Reproductive Health Services, which has been performing abortions for more than two decades and is the last clinic still in place in Missouri. His license to continue to offer abortions was due to expire on Friday, and the organization argued that denying the license amounted to another tactic of "limiting access to abortion and other forms of abortion." deprive Missourians of his right to choose abortion ".

The lawsuit was filed against Missouri Governor Michael Parson and the Missouri Department of Health and Seniors, which administers the license the clinic needed. She sought temporary restraint from the state to prevent any disruption of services.

"It's not an exercise – it's not a warning – it's a real public health crisis," said Leana Wen, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood. Federation of America, in a statement.

"Missouri would be the first state in the country to sink into the shadows – without a health center providing legal and safe abortion care," preventing access to "more" health and safety. one million women of reproductive age "living in that state," she said.

Judge Michael Stelzer of the Circuit Court heard arguments from both sides on Thursday as protesters rallied to protest what they saw as a violation of reproductive rights.

"If you cut my reproductive rights, can I remove you?" said a sign. Others read: "Governor Parson: shame on you" and "Protect yourself from legal and safe abortion".

These 6 states have more than one abortion clinic. Missouri could become the first to zero

The outcry came a week after the governor passed Bill 126, which bans abortion at eight weeks of pregnancy, even in cases of rape and incest.

"DHSS is now trying to close [the abortion provider], illegally conditioning a decision on his routine license renewal application at the end of an alleged "investigation" into a patient's complaint, "says the trial, whose details have not not disclosed to Planned Parenthood.

The governor said Wednesday that the health department had discovered during an annual inspection of the facility in March "numerous violations of state laws and regulations."

He did not answer questions about the nature of the violations, saying only: "They are well aware of the gaps" and that details can not be provided "because the investigation is still ongoing".

The fact that the St. Louis clinic is the last provider of state abortions should be unimportant, Parson said, because "it's a standard of care for women in the state of Missouri.

"They should have the right, under the law, to renew their licenses," he said. "But they should not receive any exemptions just because they're a single clinic."

In a statement released on Wednesday, Planned Parenthood president Wen said Parson's remarks were "not based on drugs, facts or reality"

At a press conference held after the hearing, Evie Mead, director of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Missouri, said that the state was making its decisions in an "arbitrary and capricious" way. .

Mead said Planned Parenthood "went out of its way" to try to comply with the rules, while the state continued to change them.

CNN's Alexandra Field and Julia Jones contributed to this report.

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