One of Missouri's three abortion clinics shuts down

~ The Springfield facility had been leading a legal challenge against a new state law.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- A Springfield abortion clinic leading a legal challenge against a new state law unexpectedly shut down Thursday, leaving abortion providers in just two other Missouri cities.

The Springfield Healthcare Center had won a temporary restraining order last month from a federal judge against a new Missouri law requiring abortion physicians to have clinical privileges at a hospital within 30 miles.

Clinic administrator Michelle Collins said the sudden decision to close the clinic after about 30 years of business "has nothing to do with the lawsuit whatsoever." But the lawsuit will be dropped as a result, she said.

Collins said the five-member board of the for-profit clinic, of which she is a member, voted unanimously Wednesday to close the clinic, effective Thursday. She described it as a business decision unrelated to finances.

"It's just so difficult to provide abortions for patients here when there's zero support from the medical community," Collins said without elaborating more specifically about why the clinic closed.

The clinic, which she said provided about 1,000 abortions a year, employed a physician from St. Louis, who did not have privileges at a Springfield hospital as the new law required.

In blocking the new law from taking effect in September, U.S. District Judge Nanette Laughrey said it would have posed immediate and irreparable harm to the clinic and an undue burden on women by effectively eliminating the only option for abortions in southwest Missouri.

The nearest Missouri abortion clinic is 160 miles away in Columbia. St. Louis has a clinic more than 200 miles away, as well as an abortion provider across the state line in Illinois. The Kansas City area is served by a clinic in Overland Park, Kan.

"The governor hopes this closing will move Missourians to consider alternatives to abortion so that our state can move forward in embracing a culture that values human life," said Jessica Robinson, a spokeswoman for Gov. Matt Blunt.

Anti-abortion activists were surprised to hear the Springfield clinic was closing.

"It's unexpected but great news ... because that law will now come into effect very quickly," said Sam Lee of Campaign Life Missouri.

Missouri Right to Life lobbyist Susan Klein also welcomed word that the Springfield clinic was closing but preemptively rebutted any suggestions that the new law was the direct cause.

"We rejoice in the lives that will be saved because the clinic is closing, but we did not force that clinic to close," Klein said.

Like the Columbia clinic, the Springfield clinic performed abortions just one day a week, with the next scheduled round on Monday. Arrangements already have been made for some of those patients to go to Columbia. Planned Parenthood officials in St. Louis also expect an increase in business.

"Unfortunately, this will further add to the cost, to the delay, to the disruption and to the difficulties of all women in the southern part of the state of Missouri," said Paula Gianino, president of Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region.

Peter Brownlie, president of Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri, said the closure of the Springfield clinic will further restrict access to abortions in a state that already has some of the nation's strongest anti-abortion policies.

"Women have both a legal right and, from our point of view, a moral right to obtain whatever reproductive health care they want," Brownlie said. "But that right becomes pretty hollow if there isn't a facility to meet your needs."

The lawsuit filed by the Springfield clinic also had resulted in a federal restraining order against another portion of the new law that allows parents to sue people who "intentionally cause, aid or assist" their minor daughters in getting abortions without their consent.

That portion of the law was put on hold by a state judge as a result of a lawsuit filed by the two Planned Parenthood affiliates, so it will not be affected by the closing of the Springfield clinic.