Abortion will remain available at Planned Parenthood clinics in Missouri, the Western District Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday, rejecting a request by the attorney general’s office to reinstate several restrictions on the procedure.
Earlier this year, former-Attorney General Andrew Bailey accused Jackson County Judge Jerri Zhang of abusing her discretion when she issued a temporary injunction that struck down several “targeted regulation of abortion providers,” or TRAP laws, as unconstitutional under the reproductive rights amendment approved by voters in November.
That injunction allowed Planned Parenthood clinics in Kansas City, Columbia and St. Louis to start offering procedural abortions for the first time in years.
The attorney general’s office in its appeal argued the TRAP laws should be re-enacted in part because they were not causing a high enough degree of “irreparable harm.” The harm was only “minor” because Missourians looking to end a pregnancy could instead travel to Illinois or Kansas for an abortion, the attorney general’s office wrote in court filings.
The appeals court unanimously rejected Bailey’s argument on Tuesday, calling it “disingenuous.”
“The irreparable harm flowing from a denial of abortion care within the confines of the Missouri (reproductive rights amendment) are unique because an abortion decision by an expectant mother ‘simply cannot be postponed, or it will be made by default with far-reaching consequences,’” wrote Judge Mark D. Pfeiffer, citing an earlier ruling by Zhang.
The appeals court also found no proof of Zhang abusing her discretion, noting that she applied “exhaustive consideration” to both sides’ arguments by conducting multiple hearings and sifting through hundreds of pages of written briefs over several months.
Plus, the appeals court noted, the bench trial on the matter is set for January, which is only a few months away. At that trial, Zhang will make a final ruling on the lawsuit filed last November by the ACLU of Missouri and the two Planned Parenthood affiliates in the state.
Until then, the temporary injunction in place prevents the state from enforcing a handful of regulations, including requirements that patients have two visits at least seventy-two hours apart before having an abortion and that abortion clinics be licensed as ambulatory surgical centers.
Bailey previously appealed Zhang’s decision to the Missouri Supreme Court, which said the attorney general should have first appealed to the western district before taking his request to the state’s highest court.
Attorney General Catherine Hanaway‘s office said in a statement that Tuesday’s ruling “puts women in danger and undermines Missouri’s ability to protect patients.”
The office has consistently argued that the regulations on abortion providers are necessary to ensure safety. Planned Parenthood contends they are unnecessary and unconstitutional.
The appeal was the first of its kind. In April, Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe signed a new law that gave the attorney general the sole power to appeal preliminary injunctions. Bailey immediately put the law to the test in the abortion case; at the same time, attorney Chuck Hatfield sued over the law on behalf of longtime progressive activist Sean Nicholson.
In September, Cole County Circuit Judge Daniel Green ruled that the appeal power was unconstitutional.
Officials with Hanaway’s office in a statement at the time said they “strongly disagree” with Green’s decision and planned to appeal.
Meanwhile, Zhang is still considering a separate request from Planned Parenthood to overturn even more state regulations that Planned Parenthood argues are preventing clinics from prescribing mifepristone and misoprostol, which are used in medication abortions.
About two-thirds of abortions nationally are performed using medication.
Emily Wales, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Plains based in the Kansas City area, accused the attorney general of being one of several examples of “disingenuous” state leadership. She pointed to an abortion ban proposed by the Republican legislature that will appear on the November 2026 ballot, coupled with attempts to make it more difficult to amend the constitution through citizen-led initiative petitions, which is how the reproductive rights amendment ended up on the ballot.
“We will not stand by while extremist officials try to override the law and the will of the people,” Wales said in a statement Tuesday. “Missourians deserve better.”
