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Federal court reverses itself, allows stay on two pro-life Missouri laws

Oct 4, 2017

By Dave Andrusko

My apologies for not getting to these two stories from Missouri yesterday. The focus Tuesday was on the welcomed House passage of the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act on a vote of 237-189.

Meanwhile over the past two days pro-abortionists won a pair of preliminary victories in ongoing fights.

First, in an utterly surprising turn of events, the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed itself Monday, in one sentence eliminating the stay it had placed on a lower court decision which had enjoined two commonsense laws.

In a statement, Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley said he is “extremely disappointed” in the 8th Circuit Court’s order, adding that “his office will continue to fight for common sense regulations that protect the health and well-being of Missouri Women.”

The court offered no explanation for its change of mind.

The result is that U.S. District Judge Howard Sachs’ decision striking down two Missouri laws–one requiring abortionists to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles, the other requiring abortion clinics to meet the requirements of ambulatory surgical centers–is in effect.

The impact is that “Planned Parenthood will be allowed to ramp up efforts to open three more abortion clinics in Missouri,” according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch–in Columbia, Springfield, and Joplin.

Missouri President Steve Rupp said, “[W]ith a stroke of a pen,” the court “put a hold on two laws that protect women and save babies.”

The actions of five judges on the 8th Circuit Court basically says that abortion facilities don’t have to abide by common sense medical safety practices and that the physicians who fly in from all over the U.S. or other countries do not have to have hospital privileges in our state.

These laws were enacted in 2005 because physicians were flying in from outside of the U.S. and then leaving town and were not available when medical emergencies arose after abortions.

In addition, the ambulatory surgical center law was necessary because of the multiple infractions found through inspections of the St. Louis Planned Parenthood.

Second, the “Satanic Temple score initial wins in abortion fight,” as the headline to the Dispatch story put it.

A circuit court judge had rejected the claim of “Mary Doe,” an adherent of the Satanic Temple, that portions of a Missouri law violates her religious beliefs.

“Under the law, patients are required to wait 72 hours between an initial consultation with a doctor and the actual appointment to have an abortion,” wrote Jack Suntrup and Kurt Erickson. “Other provisions call for patients to look at a booklet about abortion and be offered the opportunity to listen to the fetus’ heartbeat.”

Doe’s claim “was rejected at the circuit court level, but the appeals court said it is an issue that needs to be examined.” Her attorney’s argument was that “The concept of saying that human life begins at conception is a religious belief.”

The appeals court transferred the case to the state supreme court, which will now decide the fate of Missouri’s 72-hour reflection period law.

Categories: Judicial Legislation