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Missouri’s only abortion clinic expects to close this week after the state health department refused to renew its licence.
The closure would make Missouri the only US state without a legal abortion clinic, said Planned Parenthood on Tuesday.
“This is a real public health crisis,” said Leana Wen, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, which runs the clinic. “More than a million women of reproductive age in Missouri will no longer have access to a health centre in the state they live in that provides abortion care.”
The Missouri department of health and senior services did not respond to a request for comment.
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Planned Parenthood said the clinic would sue the health department to preserve access to legal abortions in the state.
On Friday, Missouri governor Mike Parson signed a Bill into law that bans abortion beginning in the eighth week of pregnancy. It was one of eight states that have passed anti-abortion legislation this year in an effort aimed at provoking the US Supreme Court to overturn Roe v Wade, the 1973 landmark case that established a woman’s right to terminate her pregnancy. – Reuters