A panel of federal appeals court judges in St. Louis has blocked a 2019 Missouri law that banned most abortions at eight weeks or because a fetus has Down
A federal appeals court panel on Wednesday blocked Missouri from enforcing a sweeping state abortion law that bans the procedures at or after eight weeks of pregnancy. The measure also would prohibit a woman from having an abortion because the fetus has Down syndrome.
Missouri Law Banning Abortions at 8 Weeks Cannot be Enforced, Federal Judges Panel Says
On 6/9/21 at 3:01 PM EDT
A panel of federal appeals judges ruled that Missouri cannot enforce the 2019 state law banning abortions at eight weeks of pregnancy. Yamelsie Rodríguez, president and CEO of Reproductive Services of Planned Parenthood for the St. Louis Region, said the decision was a critical victory for Missourians.
The three judges on St. Louis 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments in the lawsuit in September of 2020 before announcing their decision Wednesday. Reproductive Health Services, operator of the St. Louis abortion clinic, and the American Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit.
Anti-abortion advocates gather outside the Planned Parenthood clinic in St. Louis in 2019. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
ST. LOUIS (CN) A divided Eighth Circuit panel on Wednesday affirmed an injunction that prohibits Missouri from implementing a strict abortion law that includes a ban on the procedure for fetuses diagnosed with Down syndrome.
The St. Louis-based appeals court agreed with Planned Parenthood that the Down syndrome provision is a ban rather than a restriction.
“Unlike a regulation, the Down syndrome provision does not set a condition that upon compliance makes the performance of a pre-viability abortion lawful, thus preserving the constitutional right to elect the procedure. Rather, it bans access to an abortion entirely,” U.S. Circuit Judge Jane L. Kelly the only judge in the Eighth Circuit appointed by a Democratic president, Barack Obama wrote for the majority.