A federal judge has blocked the new anti-abortion law approved during the special session from going into effect. US District Judge Nanette Laughrey has ruled that the new law threatens “immediate and irreparable harm” to the Springfield Healthcare Center, a clinic that had ceased performing abortions to comply with the new law. The new law requires doctors performing abortions at clinics to have privileges at a nearby hospital. Doctors operating at the center don’t have privileges at Springfield hospitals. The judge has also blocked provisions enhancing Missouri’s parental consent law from going into effect. It would allow parents to sue anyone who helps their daughter skirt the law by getting an abortion in another state. The ruling temporarily blocks the law from going into effect while its legality is debated in court.
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