Jefferson City, Mo., Sep 18, 2005 / 22:00 pm
On Friday, a federal judge in Missouri blocked two new abortion laws which would have regulated the state’s abortion clinics and beefed up parental consent standards, just one day after they were signed by the governor.
U.S. District Judge Nanette Laughrey said that the law would threaten "immediate and irreparable harm" to the Springfield Healthcare Center, which had ceased performing abortions in order to comply with the new law.
Judge Laughrey argued that the center was the only abortion provider in the Springfield area, and therefore needed to remain open.
The first of the now frozen laws would require abortion providers to have privileges at a local hospital--something that Michelle Collins, director of the Springfield Healthcare Center, doesn’t have.