(NewsNation) — Missouri’s Amendment 3 prohibiting lawmakers from regulating abortion before fetal viability is slated to go into effect Friday, but a pending lawsuit could complicate that.
The state is positioned to be the first where a vote will undo a ban on abortion at all stages of pregnancy through an amendment that bans the legislature from restricting abortions before a fetus’ viability.
The point of fetal viability is typically around 24 weeks, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
Over 51% of voters decided in favor of the citizen-led measure, but it did not automatically repeal the existing laws that created a near-total ban on abortion. Advocates still had to file a lawsuit seeking to overturn restrictive laws to square with the new amendment.
Missouri voters approve abortion protection measure
A point of contention within that lawsuit still needing to be ironed out by a judge is whether “targeted regulation of abortion providers” laws, also known as TRAP laws, are also considered unconstitutional under Amendment 3, reported the Missouri Independent.
TRAP laws single out abortion providers and take a variety of forms, including requiring that abortion providers obtain admitting privileges at a nearby hospital, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. In Missouri, advocates say these laws made abortions all but inaccessible even prior to the total ban taking effect.
Planned Parenthood, one of several groups that brought suit, asked a judge to grant a preliminary injunction that would immediately declare the current ban and the TRAP laws unconstitutional, the outlet reported.
However, Missouri’s Solicitor General Josh Divine argued at a hearing Wednesday that the lawsuit was “unusually aggressive,” saying it would be more appropriate for the plaintiffs to challenge each TRAP law individually rather than all together “on a very short fuse,” according to the outlet.
Divine said that preliminary injunctions should only be granted in “drastic, extraordinary circumstances” and that the lawsuit does not apply because Missourians are still able to access abortion in Illinois to the east and Kansas to the west, the Missouri Independent reported.
Missouri’s GOP attorney general says abortions after viability remain illegal under new amendment
Abortion is nearly completely banned, with exceptions for medical emergencies, making the state one of the most strict in the country prior to Amendment 3.
Advocates are hoping the judge resolves the issue in their favor by Friday.
“What we don’t have are the abilities to overcome state restrictions and hurdles that were intended to deny care,” Emily Wales, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Plains, told the outlet.
Planned Parenthood said it has providers and staff prepared to start seeing patients for walk-in medication abortion appointments at three clinics starting Friday and that surgical abortions will follow after that.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
