Missouri’s last remaining abortion clinic is set to close in just 72 hours, just days after the governor signed a strict anti-abortion measure into law.
Planned Parenthood said Missouri’s health department is refusing to renew its license to operate in the state, which would force the closure of the last remaining clinic in St. Louis at the end of the week.
If it shuts down, Missouri would be the first state without a functioning abortion clinic since the Supreme Court’s landmark Roe v. Wade decision in 1973.
“This is not a drill. This is not a warning. This is a real public health crisis,” said Planned Parenthood President and CEO Leana Wen in a statement to HuffPost. “This week, Missouri would be the first state in the country to go dark—without a health center that provides safe, legal abortion care. More than a million women of reproductive age in Missouri will no longer have access to a health center in the state they live in that provides abortion care.”
On Friday, Missouri Gov. Mike Parson (R) signed a law banning abortion at eight weeks of pregnancy, with exceptions only for medical emergencies.
This is a breaking news story and will continue to be updated.