No big deal. Very soon this will be the norm as sanctioned by the GOP faction of the Supreme Court. Congratulations, GOP.
Truly sad. 
Next up from the MO legislature:
No abortion clinic may operate within 1000 feet of tanks or other vessels containing flammable liquid.
Outcome when the suit reaches the Roberts Rapey court:
The law is a Constitutional exercise of a state’s right to determine appropriate levels of safety for medical patients.
The judge is a oreo! Here’s some info on contacting his/court!
Charles Evans Whittaker U.S. Courthouse
400 E. 9th Street
Kansas City, MO 64106
District Court: 816-512-5000
It’s not clear if Missouri is down to one clinic that provides surgical abortion, or abortions in general? One third of abortions in the U.S. are now “medication abortions” rather than surgical, using the drug Mifeprex (mifepristone). Mifeprex can be prescribed by any willing clinician who submits a provider agreement form to FDA and dispenses the drug in a clinic, office, or hospital. Do the restrictions in Missouri apply to these abortions as well?
Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services
912 Wildwood
PO Box 570
Jefferson City, MO 65102-0570
Telephone: (573) 751-6400
Email: info@health.mo.gov
As I have written before, my wife worked weekends for years for a local abortion center. I have volunteered as escort for scared women trying to make their way into the clinic. If you have never had reason to go to one of these clinics for services or to support someone else going there, it is difficult to understand how crazy some of the anti-abortion protesters are, As we rocket back to the 50s under the Republican courts, many awful things are going to happen. Foremost among them is that only wealthy and well-off people who can afford to take time off and travel long distances are going to be able to get these services.It is anti-women for sure, but even more it is anti-poor and working class people.
The right to abortion has been gutted systematically since Casey v Planned Parenthood. It exists only in a vestigial form in many red states. Roe v Wade need not be overturned in order for anti-abortion fanatics to win. The Trump Court will probably not hear appeals designed to overturn Roe v Wade specifically but will hear any appeals designed to further erode it. Democrats are in a very tough position as a consequence, since to keep pushing this issue will have no practical effect except to animate a key element of the GOP base.
After announcing his decision, Judge Wimes and his wife, attorney Michelle P. Wimes, promptly loaded up their three daughters, Sydney, Gabrielle, and Saige, and headed across the Mississippi River to their new home in Granite City, Illinois.
The Columbia Clinic only did “medication abortions” in the last few years. There was something about a ruling in TX that they wanted to be able to do both. Now the one in St. Louis is being back to the only one.
Oh come on now Granite City is a s***hole, they could just stay in North St. Louis County, where I’m told there are a couple of nice munis still.
What is an oreo?
" a panel of medical staff at University of Missouri Health Care voted to stop offering those privileges "
Medical staff? I’ll bet they use leeches there. And incantations.
That is harsh and oh so accurate.
File this under sick realism:
The best hope for some reversal of shrinking abortion rights and access may be Zika.
I’d much rather see Zika brought to a halt through programs like gene-edited mosquitoes than see it get bad enough to create pressure for greater access and options for women who want control over their reproduction. But, if we do start seeing large numbers of Zika cases in the US, a silver lining is better than nothing.
Longer term, it might be the next generation of women growing up without control over their own bodies that starts the push-back on abortion restrictions. No, the next generation of men don’t have an excuse for not being part of the fight. I hope they will be, but it will be the women who have the stronger motivation.
Yowch.
But it won’t shift the fanatics. These people will continue to have all the abortions they personally need and still demand restrictions for others.
There’s generally threats from the legislature behind decisions like this at public universities.
So, I searched and…
MU Health Care said the discontinuation followed a review of health care policies and procedures, and was the result of a unanimous vote. The change will be effective December 1.
It says the review was prompted by inquiries from various members of the state legislature and public of MU Chancellor R. Bowen Loftin, who testified to Schaefer’s committee last month that he would look into the privileges and how they had been awarded.
“Inquiries” from legislators usually come with musings about the state budget.
But, the situation is all kind of fucked up, as the path taken by the GOP to end legal abortion has to twist and turn as it encounters obstacles.
Here’s an outline of the situation:
–The clinic in question offers only chemical abortion services, which don’t involve surgery
–State law classifies the clinic as an “ambulatory surgical center”
–As such, the clinic must have a doctor with either authorization to perform surgery at a nearby hospital (I think this authorization is “admitting privileges,” but a reader who knows better can correct me) or an agreement with a local hospital saying that the hospital will accept patients for emergency services.
–Because the clinic doesn’t do surgery, they got the simpler (and more easily obtained) agreement regarding emergency services, a so-called “refer and follow” privilege.
–The director of the state Department of Health considers “refer and follow” sufficient for a clinic that doesn’t do any surgery.
–The GOPers in the legislature weren’t happy about that, because the whole purpose of the law was to make it too hard for the clinic to operate. New legislation, or a new director of DoH was probably under consideration.
–The panel at U of M decided to end issuance of “refer and follow” privileges altogether. The reason given was that the privilege really wasn’t any more than any doctor would have if they had a patient who went to the hospital in need of emergency services – the doctor would provide no services at the hospital and would only be able to access information about her own patients.
–The state then can say that the clinic no longer qualifies for a license, because it doesn’t have the hospital privilege that the hospital says is not really a privilege.
The role of the court in all of this is that it plays stupid and accepts the state’s word that the legislation and licensing requirements are about patient safety.
Well, sounds about “right.” Texas has 261,797 square miles and 3 clinics left.
Missouri has 69,715 square miles and 1 clinic left.
The GOP are masters at figuring out how to kill women by inches.