Filed Date: May 28, 2019
Closed Date: April 22, 2022
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On May 28, 2019, Planned Parenthood filed a lawsuit in the Circuit Court of St. Louis, Missouri to challenge the state’s denial of a license renewal for Missouri’s only remaining abortion care center. Without intervention, the license of the abortion facility would have lapsed on May 31, 2019. Missouri also had passed an eight-week ban on abortions, which was set to go into effect on August 28, 2019, without exceptions for rape or incest. Plaintiff sought (1) declaratory relief stating that the actions of the state in denying and delaying the renewal of the license were unlawful, (2) injunctive relief preventing the state from conditioning the license renewal of abortion care providers on the production of third parties for interviews and prohibiting the violation of Missouri’s Licensing Law, and (3) attorneys fees and costs. This case was assigned to Judge Michael F. Stelzer.
On May 31, 2019, Judge Stelzer granted Plaintiff’s motion for a temporary restraining order, keeping the license in effect temporarily until a ruling was given on the request for a preliminary injunction. The preliminary injunction was then granted on June 10, 2019, preventing the license from expiring during the course of litigation. The court concluded that immediate injury would occur to Plaintiff's facility if its license were allowed to expire. The court also ordered the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services to issue a decision on the application for license renewal by June 21, 2019.
Missouri denied the application for renewal, and on June 24, 2019, the court decided that Plaintiff must first seek redress with the Administrative Hearing Commission because Plaintiff had now received an official decision. The case was dismissed without prejudice for having failed to exhaust administrative remedies and the court allowed the license to remain in effect until June 28, 2019, after which the preliminary injunction would lapse.
On May 29, 2020, the Administrative Hearing Commission ruled that the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services wrongly denied Planned Parenthood’s St. Louis clinic its license. The state chose not to appeal and a month after the decision, the clinic was granted its license. On March 15, 2021, the commission ordered the state to pay Planned Parenthood’s legal fees. The state attempted to litigate this decision in the 19th Circuit Court of Cole County, Missouri, but in April 22, 2022, the court affirmed an administrative court’s ruling (21AC-CC00110) and saw the state's actions as an attempt "to relitigate every issue on which it lost."
Summary Authors
Kathleen Lok (11/19/2022)
Last updated Aug. 30, 2023, 1:31 p.m.
Docket sheet not available via the Clearinghouse.State / Territory: Missouri
Case Type(s):
Key Dates
Filing Date: May 28, 2019
Closing Date: April 22, 2022
Case Ongoing: No
Plaintiffs
Plaintiff Description:
Reproductive Health Services of Planned Parenthood the St. Louis Region is a not-for-profit corporations providing abortion care in Missouri.
Plaintiff Type(s):
Non-profit NON-religious organization
Attorney Organizations:
Planned Parenthood Federation of America
Public Interest Lawyer: Yes
Filed Pro Se: No
Class Action Sought: No
Class Action Outcome: Not sought
Defendants
Director of Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, State
Defendant Type(s):
Case Details
Causes of Action:
Available Documents:
Injunctive (or Injunctive-like) Relief
Outcome
Prevailing Party: Plaintiff
Nature of Relief:
Injunction / Injunctive-like Settlement
Preliminary injunction / Temp. restraining order
Source of Relief:
Order Duration: 2019 - 2019
Content of Injunction:
Issues
Reproductive rights:
Reproductive health care (including birth control, abortion, and others)
Type of Facility: