Kansas City, Mo. — Today, two courts heard arguments in the ongoing lawsuit to enforce Missouri’s right to reproductive freedom, which voters enshrined in the state constitution last year. The ACLU of Missouri and the state’s two Planned Parenthood providers defended the voter-approved constitutional amendment against the state’s latest attempts to delay and deny Missourians access to abortion care and reinstate the ban on abortion.
The hearings took place in Jackson County Circuit Court and the Western District Court of Appeals. In both hearings, the state — led by Governor Mike Kehoe’s handpicked Attorney General Catherine Hanaway — continued efforts to block access to care, including medication abortions, the most common form of abortion nationwide.
In Jackson County Circuit Court, plaintiffs sought a preliminary injunction to block a statute requiring clinics to have a government-approved “complication plan” before providing medication abortion. This requirement, unlike any other in the state, has long been used to restrict access. Both Comprehensive Health of Planned Parenthood Great Plains and Planned Parenthood Great Rivers-Missouri submitted plans after an earlier preliminary injunction blocked the state’s abortion bans and several other restrictions. But instead of responding, the Department of Health and Senior Services manufactured a new “emergency rule” that resembled many of the court-blocked regulations and used it to deny the submitted plans.
Plaintiffs asked the court to preliminarily enjoin the Medication Abortion Complication Plan Statute, the related “emergency regulations,” and the Medication Abortion Tail Insurance Statute, clearing the way for Planned Parenthood and other providers to resume medication abortion services and moving Missouri closer to fully realizing the reproductive freedom voters approved.
“The state has proven that it will stop at nothing to defy the will of voters and flout the orders of the courts to continue to impose all restriction in a maximalist view to deny Missourians their fundamental right to reproductive freedom,” said Gillian Wilcox, Director of Litigation at the ACLU of Missouri. “It is the duty of the court system to uphold the constitution and protect the people from a government that has grown apathetic and indifferent towards the people it claims to serve.”
“The state is attempting to bury in baloney what we all know to be true: medication abortion is standard reproductive health care, unquestionably protected by the state's constitution.” said Emily Wales, president and CEO of Comprehensive Health of Planned Parenthood Great Plains. “Missourians don't just deserve better — they are entitled to it.”
"Missourians made it clear that they want the government out of their health care decisions, yet their own home state continues its efforts to deny them that constitutional right," said Margot Riphagen, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Rivers. "While our fight for reproductive freedom progresses in court, our health centers across Missouri will continue offering safe, judgment-free sexual and reproductive health care, including abortion."
The Western District Court of Appeals considered the State’s appeal of a previously granted preliminary injunction that has allowed procedural abortion to resume in Missouri. The appeal was made possible by Senate Bill 22, a reactive measure passed this year by the Legislature to give the Attorney General special authority to challenge any court order preliminarily enjoining state laws.
This marks the first appeal under Senate Bill 22. Originally filed by former Attorney General Andrew Bailey, the appeal seeks to overturn the preliminary injunctions blocking some of the state’s abortion bans and restrictions — protections Missouri voters themselves enshrined in the constitution.
Plaintiffs are asking the Western District Court to affirm the Jackson County Circuit Court’s preliminary injunction, ensuring that the state’s abortion bans and certain other restrictions do not block access to care and that Missourians’ constitutional right to reproductive freedom is upheld.
The original lawsuit was filed on behalf of Comprehensive Health of Planned Parenthood Great Plains and Planned Parenthood Great Rivers-Missouri, who are represented by attorneys from the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri, the American Civil Liberties Union, Crowell & Moring, and Planned Parenthood Federation of America. The full case is currently slated for trial in January 2026.
Read full brief for motion for preliminary injunction against Medication Abortion Complication Plan.
Read respondents’ brief for the Western District of Appeals