State judge puts hold on abortion law

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Already blocked by a federal judge, Missouri's new anti-abortion law received a second setback Monday as a state judge added his own temporary restraining order against the law.

Jackson County Circuit Judge Charles Atwell said the law likely violates constitutional rights to free speech and due process and threatens irreparable harm to abortion-provider Planned Parenthood and its patients.

The law allows parents to sue people who "intentionally cause, aid or assist" their minor daughters in getting abortions without their consent. It also requires doctors performing abortions to have clinical privileges at a hospital within 30 miles.

Atwell's ruling applies only to the civil liability portion of the law. He said it could have a chilling effect on free speech -- essentially the same conclusion U.S. District Judge Nanette Laughrey reached while issuing a temporary restraining order Sept. 16.

Laughrey's order also put on hold the portion affecting physicians' clinical privileges. She said it could have forced a halt to abortions in southwest Missouri, because the doctor who provides the procedure at a Springfield clinic does not have local hospital privileges.

The federal and state judges both found that the law's civil liability language could be unconstitutionally vague -- leaving it unclear as to what words and actions could be construed to "aid or assist" a teenager in getting an abortion without parental consent.

Missouri law has long required people younger than 18 to receive the consent of a parent, guardian or court before getting an abortion. Lawmakers said the new civil liability provisions are aimed at people who help teenagers get abortions in Illinois, which has no parental consent law.

Legislators passed the law earlier this month during a special session called by Republican Gov. Matt Blunt specifically to enact the abortion restrictions. Blunt has expressed confidence that the law ultimately will be upheld.

Laughrey has set a Nov. 7 federal court hearing on whether to grant an injunction against the law.