Last Missouri Planned Parenthood to stay open

A Missouri judge on Friday ordered that the state’s last remaining abortion center can continue operating just hours before the Planned Parenthood facility’s license was set to expire. The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services had not renewed Planned Parenthood’s license due to concerns about failed abortions, compromised patient safety, and legal violations at the facility.

Planned Parenthood sued this week to keep the abortion center open. St. Louis Circuit Judge Michael Stelzer’s ruling stopped Missouri from becoming the first state in the country with no facilities dedicated to the killing of unborn children. The number of abortions performed in the state has gone down every year for the past decade, with 2,910 carried out last year. Missouri Gov. Mike Parson, a Republican, last week signed into law a measure that protects unborn children after eight weeks of gestation.