For the first time since May, staffers and doctors at the Planned Parenthood clinic at the corner of Emanuel Cleaver II Boulevard and Troost Avenue in Kansas City resumed abortion services this week.
Dr. Lydia Prevost, a family medicine physician who works at Planned Parenthood Great Plains, said the clinic performed two abortions on Monday.
"I'm so glad that we were able to bring patients in and help reestablish abortion care in Missouri," Prevost said. "We know that voters in Missouri want to have abortion access in our state, and it's really, really important to make sure that we can offer this service to people who live in Missouri and call Kansas City home."
Clinics like this one are able to perform surgical abortions again after a temporary injunction last week from a Jackson County judge that blocked nearly all Missouri laws that restrict the procedure. A ban on medication abortions remains in place.
In her ruling, Circuit Judge Jerri Zhang cited the 52% of Missouri voters who approved Amendment 3 last year, enshrining the right to an abortion in the state constitution. The amendment overturned the state's near total ban on abortions that took effect immediately after the fall of Roe v. Wade in 2022.
Zhang previously issued injunctions that blocked the state's abortion restrictions in December 2024 and again in February 2025. Surgical abortions resumed after the February ruling, but became illegal again in May following a decision from the Missouri Supreme Court.
Zheng also blocked this week a law that requires at least 72 hours between appointments for abortion services, a requirement that women receive state-approved material on fetal development, and special licensing requirements for abortion facilities and admitting privileges at nearby hospitals for doctors performing abortions.
Laws requiring that only a doctor provide abortion services, and that a patient seeking an abortion must have an in-person appointment, are still in place.
The slew of court decisions in recent months — first allowing abortion, and then blocking it again — caused confusion for Missouri patients, said Emily Wales, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Plains.
"It feels a little bit like 'Groundhog Day,'" Wales said, adding that it's meaningful that Missouri patients can go to the Midtown Planned Parenthood for abortion care.
"It means, for patients, that you don't have to travel as far, that you can stay in the state where you live, where you make your home, where you raise your family, and get care that is constitutionally protected," she said.
Wales considers Missouri's ongoing litigation a test case in a post-Roe country. While Amendment 3 ended the state's near total abortion ban on paper, Planned Parenthood and reproductive rights advocates are still fighting in the courts to ensure the procedure is legal and accessible.
"The thing that's been different in the last few months is that we do have, now, a state constitutional right that is stronger than Roe, that ensures Missourians have access to care, that should be nationally accepted, (and that) shouldn't be interfered with politically," Wales said. "And still, it has felt like we are struggling to ensure that appointments are available, that we are here on a regular basis."
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey said he would immediately appeal Zhang's decision. Bailey said the ruling blocks state health and safety regulations from being enforced. State legislators passed a ballot measure this year asking voters to repeal Amendment 3. The ACLU of Missouri is challenging lawmakers' efforts in court.
Planned Parenthood's Midtown location is the only clinic currently offering surgical abortion services in Kansas City, Missouri, though staff said abortions will resume soon at their clinic in Columbia.
Before abortions resumed in Missouri, patients had to travel out of state for abortion care, and figure out logistics like travel, child care and time off work.
"Patients have come to us with so much thought, and there are so many barriers that make it hard for them to come here at all," Prevost said. "So our job once patients walk through the door is to make things as simple and safe for them as possible."
In the meantime, health center manager LaShana Torello said they're rolling with the punches.
"We know that our community wants this service, and now we're just going to keep fighting to keep getting it back," Torello said. "So today was just, like, another win under our belt. We know it's not the end of the battle, but another win."
"We'll take it," she said.
Copyright 2025 KCUR 89.3