Missouri Now A Half-Step Away From Having No Abortion Providers At All

The Missouri Department of Health has declined to renew the license of a Planned Parenthood clinic, the sole remaining abortion provider in the state.

The livelihood of the clinic now depends on the courts, as Judge Michael Stelzer said Friday that the clinic would stay open until further court orders, according to CNN.

Planned Parenthood sued the state for withholding the license, and was granted a preliminary injunction to keep operating in the meantime.

The health department withheld the renewal in part because it insisted that doctors at the clinic needed to submit to questioning about their methods. The clinic said that most of the doctors just provide services there and are not in its employ, thus can’t be forced to comply.

Should the clinic be forced to shutter, Missouri would become the first state without a single abortion provider since Roe v. Wade became law nearly 50 years ago.