A federal judge in Missouri temporarily blocked a ban on abortions at or after eight weeks of pregnancy that was set to take effect on Wednesday. The proposed law would penalize physicians who perform abortions after the eight-week threshold—before many women know that they are pregnant. It does not include exceptions for rape or incest. Similarly restrictive abortion laws have also been stopped in Arkansas, Ohio, North Dakota, and Iowa. “The various sections specifying prohibitions on abortions at various weeks prior to viability cannot be allowed to go into effect on August 28, as scheduled,” District Judge Howard Sachs wrote in his 11-page opinion. Sachs’ decision allows for a lawsuit challenging the ban, filed by Planned Parenthood and the state’s American Civil Liberties Union, to play out in court. The joint lawsuit argues that the law is unconstitutional and is in violation of Roe v. Wade. Missouri has just one abortion clinic left in the state, and is already home to some of the most restrictive abortion regulations in the country.
