Abortions delayed as one-day wait law starts

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Dozens of scheduled abortions were canceled Friday as a state law took effect requiring women to first consult physicians and then wait a day before undergoing the procedure.

The sudden starting date for Missouri's "informed consent" law came as a result of a federal appeals panel decision Thursday to lift a temporary restraining order that had prevented the law from taking effect in October.

Activists on both sides of the abortion debate were stunned by the decision, which allows the law to be enforced while litigation continues in federal and, perhaps, state courts.

A Planned Parenthood clinic in St. Louis canceled all 40 or so abortions scheduled for Friday while scrambling to notify patients that they would need another visit with a physician.

"We have a lot of patients and partners and family members who are pretty upset, terribly confused, terribly concerned about how politicians in the government can think that they can possibly interfere in these private areas of people's lives," said Paula Gianino, chief executive officer of Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region.

But abortion opponents said the clinic's cancellations highlighted the need for the law -- to stop the practice of same-day consultations and abortions.

"Often, women are under great pressure from people around them, whether it's the boyfriend, husband or counselor from school. The intent of the 24 hours is to allow them to get some other advice, where they can think about it," said Peter Samuelson, president of Americans United for Life, a law firm that helps draft and defend such laws.

Twenty-one other states already have some form of a one-day "informed consent" law in effect. Five others have laws currently under litigation or enjoined by courts, according Americans United for Life.

Missouri's law requires physicians to wait 24 hours to perform abortions after conferring with women about such things as physical, psychological and "situational" risk factors. Physicians alleged to have violated the law can be charged with misdemeanors punishable by up to one year in jail and a $1,000 fine.

Besides the St. Louis clinic, which offers abortions four days a week, Missouri has just two other abortion providers, neither of which had any abortions scheduled for Friday.

A Planned Parenthood clinic in Columbia offers abortions just two days of each month.

The Springfield Healthcare Center offers abortions one day each week. The new law means the clinic's abortion physician either will have to work an extra day for consultations, or women will have to wait a week -- not just a day -- after consulting the doctor, said Michelle Collins, administrator of the Springfield clinic.

Collins said most of the clinic's abortion patients come from outside Greene County, with some traveling from as far as Ohio, Tennessee or Texas.

"I'm unsure how we're going to be able to ask these women to make a long-distance trip and miss two days of work," Collins said. "This bill is causing a further financial burden on them."

Abortion clinic administrators said the law is likely to result in more second-trimester abortions. But abortion opponents hope the waiting-period law will reduce abortions.

"Beginning today, this action by the court will save lives," said Patty Skain, executive director of Missouri Right to Life.

Planned Parenthood's abortion clinic in the Kansas City area is located in Overland Park, Kan., where state law already requires a 24-hour informed consent process. Whereas the Missouri law requires a consultation with the treating physician, Kansas law allows women to download information off the Internet and simply sign a form saying they reviewed it, said Peter Brownlie, president of Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri.

Missouri legislators enacted the 24-hour abortion law last September by overriding the veto by Democratic Gov. Bob Holden.

U.S. District Judge Scott O. Wright had placed the law on hold based on claims by Planned Parenthood that the law was so vague that abortion providers wouldn't know if they were violating it and that prosecutors would enforce it arbitrarily. The hold was lifted by a three-judge panel of the 8th Circuit in an unsigned order.