KSHB 41 reporter Charlie Keegan focuses on local politics. He covered the campaign for Missouri's Amendment 3 in 2024. Share your story idea with Charlie.
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A trial to determine how broadly an amendment voters approved in November 2024 affects abortion access in Missouri began Monday.
Voters approved Amendment 3 by nearly 52%, cementing abortion rights in the state constitution.
Planned Parenthood sued the state after the election, arguing more than 30 state laws regulating abortion are no longer applicable under the amendment.
Some of the laws require abortion clinics to get a special license, have only doctors perform abortions, and submit a complication plan to the state in case patients need additional care after the abortion.
Other laws regulate the width of hallways and doorways inside abortion clinics. A certain number of recliners are required in recovery rooms, too.
Abortion rights supporters argue the laws are political in nature, do not follow nationally accepted medical guidance and don’t put patients first.
The Missouri Attorney General’s Office is defending the regulations, saying they’re necessary to protect women and reduce risk.
Judge Jerri Zhang expects the trial to last 10 days. She will make a final ruling in the weeks after the trial, as there is no jury.
In a preliminary ruling last year, Zhang threw out several regulations. That ruling allowed Planned Parenthood to begin providing procedural, or in-clinic, abortions.
Planned Parenthood claims the state continues to move the goal posts on certain regulations. As a result, it has not begun offering the more common medicated abortion option since Missourians legalized abortion.
“It is safe to say voters are confused. If you’re not following this issue every minute of every day, like someone like myself is, it’s easy to not understand what the current status is,” explained Mallory Schwarz, of Abortion Action Missouri, which campaigned for Amendment 3.
She hopes the judge provides clarity.
Opponents to changing the regulations were also in attendance for Monday’s proceedings. Samuel Lee, of Campaign Life Missouri, has lobbied legislators in Jefferson City to enact many of the regulatory laws currently in place.
“We’re very concerned with this trial that Planned Parenthood just wants to get rid of all health and safety regulations,” Lee said. “We hope the judge upholds the laws that Missouri lawmakers have passed over the decades to protect the health and safety of women.”
A question about abortion rights will be on this November’s ballot. Missouri voters will decide whether or not to repeal many of the provisions they passed in 2024.
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