US District Judge Nanette Laughrey has issued a temporary delay on Missouri health officials revoking a Columbia Planned Parenthood’s license to perform abortions. This initial order will only delay the action until Wednesday, to give lawyers more time to handle legal issues, but Laughrey has also scheduled a conference call for Wednesday afternoon that could have longer effects.
Live Action News reported last week that the abortion facility agreed to stop performing surgical abortions, in response to the impending loss of their license to do so because they were unable to meet state admitting privilege requirements. The move was slated to leave Missouri with just one abortion facility in the state.
However, Planned Parenthood filed a federal lawsuit on Monday to restore its license, prompting the temporary stay. The abortion giant argues that it was not given enough time to meet the changed medical requirements. PP of Kansas & Mid-Missouri CEO Laura McQuade also alleged that the University of Missouri Health Care system medical staff only voted to discontinue the old standards under which Planned Parenthood qualified due to “political pressure put on the university.”
In response, state Solicitor General James Layton contended that the lawsuit is premature because Planned Parenthood has not yet sought an administrative review of the decision, and wrong on the merits because “they’ve known for years that the statute requires privilege. They’ve known at least since sometime in September that their doctor was going to lose the privilege.”
