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Payment backlog leaves Missouri child care providers desperate, on the brink of closing
This spring, the state of Missouri owed Kimberly Luong Nichols $5,000 in backlogged payments for children at her Kansas City daycare who were part of a state subsidy program. For four years, she’s operated a licensed daycare inside her home, where she currently serves 10 children. Luong Nichols stopped drawing a salary last summer to […]
2 years after Missouri banned abortion, navigating access still involves fear, confusion
When Missouri outlawed abortion two years ago, Nicole was far more worried for her grown children than for herself. It had been two decades since she last gave birth, when she suffered a serious stroke during labor followed by severe postpartum depression. She was outraged that the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to […]
Judge denies Planned Parenthood’s request to dismiss suit based on Project Veritas video
A lawsuit filed by Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey accusing Planned Parenthood of transporting minors out of state for abortions will move forward, a judge ruled Tuesday evening. The lawsuit is based on conversations between Planned Parenthood staff and a man with Project Veritas who secretly filmed the staff while inquiring about an abortion for […]
Emergency care for pregnant women at stake in Supreme Court case, Missouri doctor warns
When a woman experiencing a second trimester miscarriage came into the hospital bleeding through her clothes, Dr. Jennifer Smith couldn’t immediately help her. Not while her fetus still had a heartbeat. Too scared to wait for the miscarriage to progress far enough to be admitted to the hospital in Missouri, the woman and her husband […]
Missouri’s abortion ban does not violate separation of church and state, judge rules
Missouri’s near-total abortion ban does not fly in the face of the state constitution’s separation of church and state, a St. Louis judge determined. The ruling came Friday, several days shy of the 2-year anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court decision that struck down the constitutional right to an abortion and paved the way for […]
‘No protection’: Missouri advocates sound alarm after IVF safeguards stymied in legislature
Danielle Faith Zoll and her husband have one last embryo frozen in Missouri. Zoll’s daughter, who is 2 years old, was conceived through in vitro fertilization. But during that pregnancy Zoll developed Hellp Syndrome, an extreme and life-threatening case of preeclampsia. After giving birth to her daughter at 35 weeks, Zoll’s doctor advised her not […]
Planned Parenthood asks Missouri judge to throw out AG suit based on Project Veritas video
Planned Parenthood is asking a Missouri judge to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the state’s attorney general alleging the clinic is transporting minors out of state for abortions. The lawsuit was filed based on an undercover video filmed by a man affiliated with a right-wing group pretending to be the uncle of a 13-year-old in […]
U.S. Senate GOP prevents contraception access bill from moving ahead
WASHINGTON — An attempt to reinforce Americans’ access to contraception failed Wednesday when U.S. Senate Republicans blocked a bill from advancing toward final passage. The 51-39 procedural vote required at least 60 senators to move forward, but fell short after GOP lawmakers said the measure was too broad as well as unnecessary. Alaska Sen. Lisa […]
After Missouri banned abortion, the state saw 25% drop in OB-GYN residency applicants
Medical students and residents increasingly come to Dr. Colleen McNicholas with the same concern: will their training in Missouri prepare them to competently care for pregnant patients? McNicholas, who for years was among the few doctors performing elective abortions in Missouri, said that fear is reflected in a report released in May by the Association […]
Already outlawed in Missouri, noncitizen voting ban will appear on statewide ballot
Missouri’s Constitution has banned noncitizens from voting since 1924. And state law requires individuals to verify they are a U.S. citizen in order to register to vote. But GOP lawmakers contend the constitutional and statutory language isn’t strong enough. Instead of saying that “all citizens” can vote, Republicans argue the state constitution should be changed […]
Boone County new focus of Missouri initiative petition campaigns following redistricting
Since being elected Boone County Clerk in 2018, Brianna Lennon’s job verifying initiative petition signatures has been pretty easy, with only a few hundred pages to sort through at most. That changed after state lawmakers cut her county in half when they redrew Congressional maps. In 2022, after long-fought battles and filibusters over the new […]
Missouri House puts questions of ranked-choice, non-citizen voting on the 2024 ballot
Arguments over the validity of banning non-citizen voting in Missouri, which is already illegal, were part of what ultimately killed an initiative petition bill prioritized by Republicans this session. But in the final hours of the legislative session on Friday, the House approved a non-citizen voting provision as part of a Senate bill which will […]