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PPKM Files Second Lawsuit Against Restrictive Missouri Law

Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri (PPKM) filed a second lawsuit last week against a Missouri law that would classify more reproductive heath clinics as outpatient surgery centers, subjecting them to state health department oversight and requiring costly renovations to their facilities. For example, the law would require hallways at the facilities to be at least six feet wide and doors at least 44 inches wide.

The law would have gone into effect in August, but PPKM filed a lawsuit alleging that the new regulations are unnecessary and are not meant to improve safety, but rather to interfere with a woman’s constitutional right to abortion, reports Kaiser. US District Judge Ortrie Smith issued a temporary injunction in September blocking enforcement of the law so that both sides could negotiate some provisions of the law.

The new lawsuit argues that it is unreasonable to impose the state’s regulations on facilities that distribute to women medications that cause a miscarriage after they have left the facility. “We think that the statute is problematic from both a state and federal perspective, and so we’re covering all bases,” Peter Brownlie, Planned Parenthood’s president and chief executive officer, told the Associated Press.

Sources:

Kaiser Daily Women�s Health Policy Report 10/29/07; Associated Press 10/25/07

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