Section 188.025

Title XII PUBLIC HEALTH AND WELFARE

Chapter 188

Effective - 28 Aug 1986   

  188.025.  Hospital required, when. — Every abortion performed at sixteen weeks gestational age or later shall be performed in a hospital.

­­--------

(L. 1974 H.B. 1211 § 4, A.L. 1979 H.B. 523, et al., A.L. 1986 H.B. 1596)

(1981) A requirement that second trimester dilation and evacuation abortions be performed in hospital is unconstitutional because the court found that an outpatient procedure was no more dangerous to maternal health than a hospital procedure while being far less expensive.  Planned Parenthood v. Ashcroft (8th Cir.), 664 F.2d 687.

(1983) The second-trimester hospitalization requirement of this statute is unconstitutional because it unreasonably infringes upon a woman's constitutional right to obtain an abortion.  Planned Parenthood of Kansas City, Mo. v. Ashcroft, 103 S.Ct. 2517.

(1987) United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri Central Division, on March 17, 1987, held that section 188.025 was unconstitutional and the state was permanently enjoined from enforcing this provision.  Reproductive Health Services v. William L. Webster, 655 F.Supp. 1300 (W.D. Mo.).

(1988) United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit affirmed the district court's judgment that this section is unconstitutional.  Reproductive Health Services v. William L. Webster, 851 F.2d 1071 (8th Cir.).