Missouri Law Shuts Down Abortion Services at Only Abortion Clinic in Southwest Missouri

New York September 15, 2005
New York, NY—Today, the Center for Reproductive Rights filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri against a new law that will force the only abortion clinic in southwest Missouri to stop providing abortions. The law requires physicians performing abortion procedures to obtain privileges at a local hospital. Because the doctor in Springfield Healthcare Center Inc. does not have these privileges and it is unclear when he will receive them, the facility may have to shut down its abortion services.
According to the lawsuit, the new law imposes the additional and unnecessary requirement that says the facility’s doctor must have admitting privileges to a hospital within 30 miles. Abortions are the only procedure performed at ambulatory surgical facilities in Missouri that are subject to this additional requirement. Yet, according to the Alan Guttmacher Institute, a non-partisan research organization, abortion is one of the safest surgical procedures for women.
In addition, women in the southwest part of the state will be forced to travel six to eight hours roundtrip to obtain an abortion at the nearest clinic in Columbia, Missouri. As the suit claims, such a trip will be particularly burdensome for women with limited financial resources and childcare needs, women without access to transportation, and women in abusive relationships.

well, yeah, but they're poor. i thought the big perk of being a legislator was that you got to be part of the machine that denies po' folk their rights...if this job is gonna entitle "logic" and "compassion," i want out.