Ruling means Missouri's last abortion clinic stays open
Source: AP
By JIM SALTER and SUMMER BALLENTINE
OFALLON, Mo. (AP) Missouris only abortion clinic will be able to keep operating after a state government administrator decided Friday that the health department was wrong not to renew the license of the Planned Parenthood facility in St. Louis.
Missouri Administrative Hearing Commissioner Sreenivasa Rao Dandamudis decision means Missouri will not become the first state without a functioning abortion clinic since 1974, the year after the Supreme Courts Roe v. Wade decision.
In over 4,000 abortions provided since 2018, the Department has only identified two causes to deny its license, Dandamudi wrote, adding that Planned Parenthood has substantially complied with state law.
Therefore, Planned Parenthood is entitled to renewal of its abortion facility license, Dandamudi wrote.
FILE - In this Tuesday, June 4, 2019 file photo, a Planned Parenthood clinic is seen in St. Louis. Missouri's only abortion clinic will be able to keep operating after a state government administrator decided Friday, May 29, 2020, that the health department was wrong not to renew the license of Planned Parenthood's St. Louis facility. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson, File)
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