Planned Parenthood to Restart Regular Abortion Appointments in Columbia and Kansas City

Planned Parenthood to restart regular abortion appointments in Columbia, Kansas City next week. Only surgical abortions will be offered initially as the clinics await state approval to restart medication abortions. Two of Missouri’s nine Planned Parenthood clinics are poised to start performing regularly-scheduled surgical abortions next week, though clinic leadership says access to medication abortions is in the hands of the state.

Legal Developments and Abortion Access in Missouri

The first elective abortion in Missouri since the procedure was banned in 2022 was performed earlier this month in a Kansas City Planned Parenthood clinic. Two weeks ago, Jackson County judge Jerri Zhang struck down the final few regulations for Missouri abortion providers, calling them “unnecessary” and “discriminatory,” opening the door for abortions to resume. The regulations run afoul of the constitutional amendment granting the right to abortion, which voters passed in November as Amendment 3.

Among these now defunct regulations is a requirement that abortion clinics submit a complication plan for medication abortions. While Zhang blocked the regulations connected to the complication plan, the statute itself remains, said Emily Wales, president and CEO with Planned Parenthood Great Plains. Wales said Planned Parenthood submitted a complication plan to the state last week, but there has been no indication as to how long it will take to review the plans. Until that approval arrives, medication abortions cannot begin. “We’re in uncharted territory here, because we don’t have regulations that tie to the statute, because they’re blocked,” Wales said.

Resuming Services in Columbia and Kansas City

The first elective abortion to take place in Columbia since 2018 is scheduled for Monday. Soon, appointments will be available at least one day a week. The Kansas City clinic will begin seeing patients for regularly-scheduled surgical abortions at least one day a week starting Wednesday. Initially, they are scheduling patients up until 12 weeks in pregnancy, but Wales said they intend to expand the gestational age as they figure out scheduling. The clinic also hopes to expand the pain management offered for surgical abortions; initially, they plan to offer patients Valium and local anesthetic.

Strategic Relocation of Abortion Providers

Abortion providers are trying to open new clinics as close as possible to states with bans. Reproductive health providers have started leaving those states, working to open new outposts for abortion on the borders in nearby states that appear likely to maintain access. Providers hope the new clinics can help serve the surge of patients now expected to travel for abortions.

Key provider relocation plans include:

• Whole Woman’s Health: Announced plans to close its four Texas abortion clinics and open one in neighboring New Mexico.
• CHOICES: Based in Memphis, Tennessee, is opening a clinic in Carbondale, Illinois, the closest state expected to protect abortion rights.
• Red River Women’s Clinic: North Dakota’s sole abortion clinic, is planning to relocate across the river to Minnesota.
• Jackson Women’s Health Organization: The Mississippi clinic at the center of the Supreme Court case overturning Roe v. Wade, is moving to Las Cruces, New Mexico.
• Planned Parenthood: Planning to establish a presence in Las Cruces and working to open a new clinic in Ontario, Oregon, to serve patients expected to leave neighboring Idaho.

National Trends in Abortion Care

About a dozen states will soon be tasked with providing the majority of the nation’s abortions, per an analysis by the Guttmacher Institute. In 2023, 63% of abortions in the United States took place using medication rather than surgical procedures. In states where abortion is legal, medication that induces a miscarriage is available to patients in their first trimester of pregnancy. However, wait times for abortion appointments have increased to two to three weeks from one to two days in some locations. Jennifer Pepper, the CHOICES executive director, noted: “There will be people who have the ability and resources to travel for an abortion and are going to have a very hard time finding an appointment because the clinics are already at capacity.”