Missouri abortion rights in legal limbo after constitutional protections take effect

Planned Parenthood affiliates ask for strike down of near-total abortion ban and other limiting statutes in lawsuit

An amendment to Missouri's constitution protecting the right to abortion took effect late on Thursday, two years after the state banned the procedure - but abortions have not yet resumed in the state.

The day after Missouri voters supported the measure to amend the constitution, Planned Parenthood affiliates in the state filed a lawsuit asking the court to strike down the state's near-total abortion ban as well as a raft of other restrictions that, Planned Parenthood said, make it impossible to perform the procedure. In a hearing on Wednesday, the groups asked the Jackson county circuit judge Jerri Zhang to quickly issue an order to freeze the restrictions and allow abortions in the state to resume on Friday.