Second KC clinic offering medication abortion. Are other locations possible?
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Planned Parenthood began medication abortion at Gladstone Health Center on July 1.
- Judge Jerri Zhang struck down several Missouri abortion restrictions on June 18.
- Planned Parenthood reports appointments filled immediately and expects high demand.
Kansas Citians now have two locations where they can access medication abortion weeks after a judge struck down a slew of longstanding restrictions on the procedure.
Planned Parenthood announced that patients can receive pregnancy-ending drugs at its Gladstone Health Center starting on July 1. Emily Wales, president and CEO of Comprehensive Health of Planned Parenthood Great Plains, said the organization is also seeking to offer medication abortion at its Independence clinic in the future.
“It tends to be easy on patients, and also a fairly quick thing that providers can stand up,” Wales said.
Missourians have been able to access the drug for the first time since 2018, when abortion providers declined to adhere to state-mandated pelvic exams for patients seeking medication abortion.
“Because that violates the standard of care, and with physical violation of patients, providers felt they could not ethically offer medication abortion in the state,” Wales said.
A sweeping ruling from Jackson County Circuit Court Judge Jerri Zhang on June 18 struck down several of Missouri’s abortion restrictions, finding them unconstitutional after voters in 2024 enshrined a right to the procedure in the Missouri Constitution.
The decision opened up opportunities for Planned Parenthood’s Gladstone facility to dispense abortion-inducing drugs. Since going online in Gladstone, Wales said appointments have “filled immediately.”
Planned Parenthood had also started offering medicated abortions at its clinic in Midtown Kansas City, Columbia and St. Louis.
“We expect the demand to remain really high,” Wales said.
The state’s abortion laws have seen seismic changes over the past several years. Missouri banned abortion just minutes after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the federal right to the procedure in 2022. Two years later, the state became the first to overturn a near-total ban after that landmark decision, commonly called Dobbs.
Sam Lee, a longtime anti-abortion activist in the state, called the opening of the Gladstone facility “disappointing.”
“Medication abortions are much more prevalent than surgical abortions. We anticipate there’s a lot more abortions being performed in Missouri than there were before,” Lee said.
As the courts work through the ramifications of abortion legalization, the state is again gearing up for another campaign on abortion rights. In November, voters will be asked to overturn the section of the Missouri Constitution that legalized abortion and create a new section banning it with limited exceptions for survivors of rape or incest.
