A federal judge has blocked the state of Missouri from revoking an abortion license at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Columbia.
U.S. District Judge Nanette Laughrey on Monday granted a preliminary injunction to Planned Parenthood of Kansas and mid-Missouri, which sued after the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services moved to revoke the abortion license on Dec. 1.
The ruling doesn't allow the clinic to immediately resume abortions because it needs to find a physician who meets state requirement that a doctor have local hospital admitting privileges.
Laughrey said in her ruling that the state had treated the clinic more harshly than similar institutions when it sought to revoke the license.
The Missouri Attorney General's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the judge's ruling.