KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Abortion providers in Missouri said they cannot provide abortions on Friday after Amendment 3 takes effect without a ruling from a judge.
Amendment 3 ensures the right to reproductive freedom like abortion, but there's a number of statutes still in effect that make it nearly impossible for clinics to do that.
Lawyers for Planned Parenthood and the Missouri Attorney General’s office made arguments to strike down those statutes before a Jackson County judge Wednesday.
"Every single day Missourians are being denied their constitutional right they are being denied critical care," Planned Parenthood Great Plains president and CEO Emily Wales said.
The judge will determine how Missouri’s Amendment 3 applies to existing laws surrounding abortion access.
The Missouri Attorney General's Office stated they are prepared to fight the preliminary injunction filing and lawsuit.
"I'm hoping the judge will just let this go to trial as cases normally do," Solicitor General Josh Divine said.
Voters approved Amendment 3 in November. It restores some abortion access in Missouri.
The amendment takes effect at the end of the day Thursday, meaning abortion providers can, in principle, offer abortions beginning Friday.
Planned Parenthood filed a lawsuit arguing Amendment 3 states "the right to reproductive freedom shall not be denied, interfered with, delayed, or otherwise restricted."
Lawyers argue Missouri laws that require a 72-hour waiting period, requiring providers to have practicing privileges at nearby hospitals, prohibit abortions via telemedicine, clinics providing 24/7 care and require additional licenses for abortion clinics for example go against Amendment 3 by delaying abortions.
Planned Parenthood calls them "trap laws."
While the lawsuit plays out for the next months, Planned Parenthood asked the judge for a preliminary injunction, essentially throwing out the laws while the lawsuit proceeds.
This injunction would allow Planned Parenthood to begin proving abortion access on Friday.
"We are ready to provide care; we are experts in doing this," Wales said. "What we don't have are the abilities to overcome state restrictions and hurdles that are intended to deny care."
The attorney general’s office argues those laws are necessary to protect women and do not ban abortion, so they should remain in effect.
"What we're trying to do is create a situation where those women can in fact make a decision that they want to do, and we know most of the time that's childbirth," Divine said.
Time is of the essence for Planned Parenthood's goal to provide abortions in Kansas City, Columbia and St. Louis on Dec. 6.
The judge listened to arguments for more than three hours Wednesday, but didn't make a decision on the preliminary injunction.
Planned Parenthood leaders are still confident they'll be able to provide abortions on Friday.
"We know that the state is trying to delay, they are trying to bring out old cases, they're trying to district and they're pointing to old statutes," Wales said. "We have a new standard, we have a new constitutional right and Missourians should get care quickly."
Missouri leaders are hopeful the judge's decision will send the lawsuit straight to trial with all the current abortion statutes in place.
"There's no reason why we can't have a regular trial with real witnesses and prove our case six months or a year from now," Divine said.
The state previously filed a motion to transfer the lawsuit out of Jackson County and have it in Cole County as well as dismissing Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker from the lawsuit.
Divine argued Peters-Baker would not enforce Missouri's abortion statutes, therefore making her an "improper representative" of the 114 prosecuting attorneys in Missouri.
An attorney representative for Peters Baker stated in court there is no opposition from the prosecutor's office being listed as a defendent and stated the state's claims regarding enforcement are not true.
Missouri state attorneys presented arguments for nearly two hours on why Peters Baker should be dismissed and why the case should transfer to a Cole County court.
The motion to transfer comes after a Cole County judge ruled Amendment 3 should not be on the November ballot because of claims it didn't meet legal requirements.
The Missouri Supreme Court eventually overturned that ruling, putting Amendment 3 back on the ballot.
Judge Zhang denied the state's motion to dismiss Peters Baker and denied the motion to transfer to Cole County, so the case will be staying in Jackson County for now.
Divine said in court Wednesday the state will be appealing the judge's decision.
KSHB 41 News asked Divine why it is so important to have the case in Cole County, and if they believe a Cole County judge would lean more toward the state's argument.
"I think that's why [Planned Parenthood] sued in Jackson County and why they sued a defendant who made it very clear today that she's just going to fall over and not defend the laws at all," Divine said. "We win sometimes and we lose sometimes in Cole County, that's true in Jackson County as well."
Wednesday's hearing was the start in what is expected to be a long legal battle. Judge Jerri Zhang could offer a ruling on the injunction by the end of the week.
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