Trial over Missouri abortion access gets underway

Marie Moyer

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

Planned Parenthood Great Plains and Great Rivers is returning to the courthouse against the state Monday to reinstate abortion in Missouri.

Voters approved access to abortion in November 2024 through Amendment 3. In December 2024, Jackson County Judge Jerri Zhang temporarily blocked enforcement of Missouri’s existing abortion restrictions, saying that state regulations on abortion centers were unfair and conflicted with what voters just passed. Abortions were set to resume in February 2025.

The Missouri General Assembly drew up joint resolutions to repeal Amendment 3 and add exceptions to the procedure, approving House Joint Resolution 73 in May 2025. HJR 73 would also add exceptions back to the bill text, only allowing abortions up to 12 weeks in cases of rape, incest and medical emergencies, and when there is a fetal anomaly.

After additional legal battles between the state and abortion rights groups on ballot wording, the resolution was put on the ballot for voters in 2026.

Also in May, the Missouri Supreme Court overruled Zhang, claiming she used the wrong legal standard in her injunction to block abortion restrictions. The ruling again closed access to abortions in the state.

Missouri’s ban was blocked again by Zhang in July, with Zhang ruling that the state’s regulation can cause irreparable harm and “is directly at odds with Amendment 3.”

The move reopened abortion access that same month.

Zhang will oversee Monday’s trial. The trial is set to last two weeks and will start at 9 a.m. in the Jackson County Courthouse.

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