Court limits abortion law
Published May 4, 2007
In Supreme Court cases, one party usually leaves the courtroom happy while the other leaves disappointed with the decision. But a Missouri Supreme Court ruling that unanimously upheld a 2005 Missouri abortion law on Tuesday satisfied both the state and abortion service providers.
The court ruled the Teen Health Endangerment law constitutional, but dramatically limited its scope, Traci Gleason, Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri.
The 2005 law creates liability for trusted adults who "cause, aid or assist" minors who cannot involve a parent in their decision to have an out-of-state abortion. Gleason said the language "cause, aid or assist" was not defined in the law and could have been interpreted to restrict some of Planned Parenthood's activities.
"Because we're a trusted medical provider, it's core that we be able to provide medical information and counseling to our clients," Gleason said. "The primary argument we had was that the language was vague and challenged the ability of medical officials to accurately provide information to minors."
Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri, Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and the Missouri Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice immediately challenged the law when it was passed in 2005 because of first amendment issues, Gleason said.
"Although Planned Parenthood argues that (the Teen Health Endangerment law) restricts protected speech, it need not be invalidated in its entirety to pass constitutional muster," the court stated in a unanimous opinion. "Instead, it may be upheld by a narrowing construction of the statute's terms 'aid' and 'assist' to exclude providing information or counseling. The information and counseling provided by Planned Parenthood do not fall into any unprotected category, but rather are core protected speech."
Attorney General Jay Nixon's press secretary, John Fougere, said Nixon was also pleased with the decision.
Gleason said the decision was important to prevent future legislation from infringing on first amendment rights of abortion and sexual education providers.
"The core issue of this case was our ability to provide information and counseling, and we're pleased that the Court, in a unanimous decision, guaranteed our ability to do so and also makes clear to the Missouri Legislature that any future attempts to restrict such information and counseling would be found unconstitutional," Paula Gianino, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region, stated in a press release.
Even though this decision is a small victory for Planned Parenthood, Gleason said she is worried about future abortion legislation. She said if the state really wanted to reduce abortions, it should focus on unplanned pregnancy prevention legislation.
"The only way to reduce the number of abortions is to reduce the number of unintended pregnancies," Gleason said. "Instead of moving toward prevention, the legislature is moving toward legislation to restrict access to information that could reduce unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases."
