The Missouri Supreme Court has temporarily blocked access to abortion in the state, despite a new amendment to the State Constitution, passed by voters, that ensures such access.
The court’s ruling on Tuesday lifted an injunction by a circuit judge who had found that some state laws regulating abortion access could undermine the new amendment.
After the Supreme Court’s decision, Planned Parenthood, the state’s last abortion provider, temporarily halted abortion procedures in the state.
The State Supreme Court’s decision adds to legislative efforts to undercut Amendment 3, a November ballot initiative that guaranteed a “fundamental right to reproductive freedom,” including the ability to obtain an abortion. It passed with nearly 52 percent of the vote.
“The people spoke through direct democracy, and conservative forces are figuring out how to curtail them,” said Melissa Murray, a law professor at New York University who specializes in constitutional law and reproductive rights.
Andrew Bailey, the Republican state attorney general, who had appealed the circuit court judge’s decision, said, “This ruling is a win for common sense, for basic medical safety and for the sanctity of human life.”
Amendment 3 overturned the state ban on abortion that Missouri had enacted in 2022, after the Supreme Court struck down federal abortion protections in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
But dozens of anti-abortion regulations, enacted over the past 20 years, all but banned abortion, making it difficult to implement Amendment 3. Those rules include requirements on wait times before abortions, constraints on where abortions could be performed and licensing regulations that made it easier to shut abortion clinics down.
Anti-abortion state legislators argue that the laws protect patients from medical harm.
Mr. Bailey, the state attorney general, said that his Supreme Court win, though temporary, was in line with efforts to make Missouri “the safest state in the nation for women and families.”
The legal battle currently before the Supreme Court started after the passage of Amendment 3, when Planned Parenthood filed a lawsuit against Missouri’s numerous abortion restrictions, arguing that they undermined the amendment.
In December, Judge Jerri Zhang ruled that the state’s 2022 abortion ban violated the State Constitution and issued a preliminary injunction against mandatory wait periods.
In February, Judge Zhang issued a preliminary injunction against a licensing requirement for abortion clinics, calling it “discriminatory” because it did “not treat services provided in abortion facilities the same as other types of similarly situated health care, including miscarriage care.” This injunction lifted a major obstacle to abortion care and paved the way for Planned Parenthood to offer the procedure.
The Missouri Supreme Court’s decision on Tuesday did not weigh in on whether those rules unduly restricted abortion access. It said only that when deciding to halt state laws, Judge Zhang needed to adhere to a higher standard by finding that the evidence in the case supported four elements.
Judge Zhang’s injunction was based on only one of the four elements — that Planned Parenthood was likely to prove that some state laws undermined Amendment 3 and prevail at trial.
The State Supreme Court said that she must also show that Planned Parenthood and its patients will suffer irreparable harm if the state laws at issue are not nullified, that this harm outweighs Missouri’s stated interest in protecting consumer safety and that without the injunctions the public interest could be harmed.
Michael A. Wolff, a former Missouri Supreme Court justice, said that judges must weigh whether “the legislature and governor get to override what the people have said they want.”
“Legislators who voted for the anti-abortion laws may be morally offended by this reproductive care,” Mr. Wolff said. But legally speaking, “moral offense” is not enough to undo the voters’ decision “that the interest of the patients are predominate.”
This is not the end of the abortion debate. The state legislature recently drafted its own constitutional amendment banning abortion with limited exceptions for medical emergencies, rape and incest. The legislature plans to include the amendment on the 2026 ballot.
And while Judge Zhang must determine whether her injunctions meet the required four elements, her decision is only temporary. Mr. Bailey can appeal a new temporary injunction to the Supreme Court. The case goes to trial in January.
Katie Benner is a correspondent writing primarily about large institutions that shape American life.
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