Planned Parenthood resumes abortions after judge rules regulations unconstitutional

CNA Staff, Feb 21, 2025 / 14:40 pm (CNA).

Here is a roundup of recent pro-life and abortion-related news.

Planned Parenthood offers abortions in Missouri

Planned Parenthood is once again offering abortions in Missouri following the passage of a referendum in November that enshrined a right to abortion in the Missouri Constitution.

Voters passed Amendment 3 in November establishing a right to “reproductive freedom,” but Planned Parenthood initially held off on offering abortions in the state. Abortion became illegal in the state, except in cases of emergency, after the state’s 2019 “trigger law” went into effect following the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

The decision to resume offering abortions comes after Jackson County circuit judge Jerri Zhang temporarily blocked abortion restrictions on Feb. 14. Zhang wrote in the three-page ruling that the regulations were unnecessary and the licensing requirement for abortion clinics was discriminatory. 

Planned Parenthood CEO Margot Riphagen celebrated the decision, calling the state licensing requirements “another politically motivated barrier to prevent patients seeking abortion from getting the care they need.”

But Susan Klein, executive director of Missouri Right to Life, called the decision a “tragic day for Missouri mothers and unborn children” in a Feb. 17 statement, where she highlighted the potential dangers of limited regulations.

The regulations that were ruled unconstitutional under Amendment 3 include a requirement that only doctors perform abortions as well as an examination requirement to determine the unborn child’s gestational age and any preexisting conditions. Regulations requiring the sterilization of surgical instruments and the ready availability of emergency equipment during the procedure were also ruled unconstitutional. 

Pro-life group criticizes Trump plans for IVF expansion 

A pro-life group criticized the Trump administration’s expansion of access to in vitro fertilization (IVF), saying the cost of life is higher than abortion. 

IVF is a fertility treatment opposed by the Catholic Church in which doctors fuse sperm and eggs to create human embryos and implant them in the mother’s womb. To maximize efficiency, doctors create excess human embryos and routinely destroy undesired embryos.

The pro-life group American Life League (ALL) voiced opposition to the IVF expansion, saying in a Wednesday statement that “it is not a pro-life decision.”

“The reality is that more babies die from IVF than abortion. This fact is continuously ignored by our lawmakers, who obliviously call IVF a pro-life action, or celebrate ‘more babies,’” said ALL National Director Katie Brown. “This blatant ignorance will cost millions of innocent lives.”

Brown urged President Donald Trump “to take time to fully understand what IVF is” and to reverse the decision.

Delaware pregnancy centers defend free speech 

A nonprofit religious network of pregnancy care centers filed a federal lawsuit against the state of Delaware last week challenging a recent state Senate bill requiring pregnancy centers to post disclaimers in their facilities and advertising.

The bill requires pregnancy centers to post disclaimers stating that they don’t have a licensed medical provider directly overseeing services and are not licensed as medical facilities. 

In the lawsuit, argued by law firms Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) and Simms Showers, the National Institute of Family and Life Advocates (NIFLA) maintained that the disclaimers are unnecessary and misleading — and that they constitute compelled speech. 

Anne O’Connor, vice president of legal affairs at NIFLA, said in a Feb. 13 statement that the bill “is clearly unconstitutional as it destroys the free speech of pregnancy centers solely because they are pro-life and help women who are facing unplanned pregnancies.”

ADF Senior Counsel Kevin Theriot cited Roe v. Wade’s overturn as a starting point after which “state attorneys general have ramped up their efforts to silence, censor, and shut down pregnancy care centers across the country.” 

Lawsuit against abortion time off revived 

A U.S. appeals court reopened a lawsuit by 17 states that challenged a federal rule requiring employers to give employees who have abortions the same benefits as mothers who are pregnant or recently gave birth.

The three-judge panel found that the states led by Tennessee had legal standing to sue because they are employers who must comply with it.

This decision by the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a judge’s dismissal of the lawsuit last year after the rule was enacted last April by the Biden administration.

The 2024 rule — enacted by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) — required employers to grant sick leave or time off for employees who had abortions.

The rule was designed to implement the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA), a law passed in 2022 with bipartisan support. The PWFA was enacted to accommodate workers who were pregnant or had pregnancy-related conditions by granting them sick leave or time off to see doctors, but the EEOC rule extended those related conditions to include getting an abortion or using contraception.

The states argued that the rule went beyond the purview of the PWFA and violated the First Amendment, according to court documents.

The rule applies to all public and private employers with 15 or more workers and is contingent on the accommodations not presenting an “undue hardship on the operation of the business of the covered entity.”

Source: https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/262349/planned-parenthood-resumes-abortions-after-judge-rules-regulations-unconstitutional