Abortion

A Kansas City judge last week overturned a requirement that patients take the medication while a doctor is present.

Medication abortion will be available in Missouri for the first time since 2018 after a judge determined most of the state's challenged abortion regulations are unconstitutional, including laws requiring hospital privileges, complication plans and special clinic licenses.

Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway was the lead Republican attorney general behind the letter. Sent on Hanaway's office letterhead, the attorneys general state that "the upsurge in home-setting chemical abortions has serious implications for the Safe Drinking Water Act."

Another measure to be decided during the August primary is a proposal to require constitutional amendments put before voters through the initiative petition process to pass in all eight congressional districts.

Proponents of the bill say the legislation is necessary to protect those who survive an attempted abortion, while opponents say it creates a hostile environment for medical workers.

Poll directors said data indicates voters' views on transgender care for minors are a strong indicator of whether they would support the measure, which would effectively overturn a pro-abortion rights amendment from two years ago.

U.S. Sens. Josh Hawley and Eric Schmitt expect Missouri Republican-backed ballot issues will succeed even in a tough election year.

In addition to approving legislation that would allow students to transfer outside their district, senators sparred over bills on abortion education and preventing teachers from recognizing a student's preferred gender.

Missouri Planned Parenthood clinics can currently perform procedural abortions but state laws limit the scope of care, and medication abortion is blocked. A trial in Jackson County could clarify which state-imposed standards abortion providers must meet.

Missouri voters enshrined the right to an abortion in 2024, but several abortion restrictions remain state law. A Jackson County judge temporarily blocked those laws, and Planned Parenthood is now seeking to permanently strike those laws to ease abortion access.