Missouri Supreme Court denies jurisdiction, orders another court to hear case involving Planned Parenthood

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - Missouri’s High Court has ordered a different court to hear an appeal in the case of Planned Parenthood against the State of Missouri.

In an opinion filed on Tuesday, Aug. 12, the Supreme Court of Missouri says it has transferred the case to the Missouri Court of Appeals.

According to the Supreme Court, the State’s appeal questions whether the Jackson County Circuit Court abused its discretion when it granted a preliminary injunction in favor of Planned Parenthood.

In November 2024, Missouri voters approved an amendment to the state’s constitution to deny the government a place in decisions about a family’s reproductive healthcare.

After the law was passed with several amendments, Planned Parenthood challenged the regulations and asked the Circuit Court to declare them unconstitutional.

A hearing in December and January led the Circuit Court to issue the injunction and prevent some - but not all - of the challenged regulations from enforcement.

Since then, court documents indicated that the State has sought relief through the Supreme Court. Initially, justices found Jackson County used the wrong legal standard in the original injunction. It was ordered that the Circuit Court would vacate that injunction and reevaluate.

After Jackson County did as instructed and issued a second preliminary injunction - this time with the right legal standard - the State again appealed the judgment.

However, the Supreme Court said the Circuit Court has not yet reached a final decision on whether the regulations violate the constitution. Therefore, there is no legal standard to invoke the Supreme Court’s exclusive jurisdiction over the case.

As the appeal involved only whether Jackson County abused its discretion, the underlying case remains pending. Therefore, the Supreme Court found that there have been no judgments to trigger it as the exclusive jurisdiction.