Hearing Set Over Imperiled Missouri Abortion Clinic

A hearing is scheduled in a St. Louis court Thursday on an effort by the only abortion clinic in Missouri to retain its license after the state raised concerns about care there.

Planned Parenthood sued the state Tuesday, saying it may be forced to stop providing abortions at its St. Louis facility because the state is threatening not to renew its license to perform them.

Missouri’s health department is citing failed abortions, compromised patient safety and legal violations as it pressures the state’s only abortion clinic to come into compliance or lose its license, which expires Friday.

If it’s not renewed, the organization says Missouri would become the first state without a functioning abortion clinic since the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision.