Missouri Clinic Can Keep Doing Abortions, Judge Says

A judge has issued an order allowing Missouri's only abortion clinic to continue providing the service.

St. Louis Circuit Judge Michael Stelzer ruled Friday, just hours before the St. Louis Planned Parenthood clinic's license to perform abortions was set to expire. He issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting Missouri from allowing the license to lapse.

The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services had declined to renew the license. It cited concerns with "failed abortions," compromised patient safety and legal violations at the clinic. Agency officials also wanted to interview additional physicians at the clinic.

Planned Parenthood officials had said that if the license lapsed, Missouri would become the first state without an abortion clinic since the U.S. Supreme Court's 1973 decision legalizing abortion nationwide.