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JEFFERSON CITY — Equipped with a new law, Missouri’s attorney general is seeking a second opinion in a case that has allowed abortions to resume in Missouri.

Attorney General Andrew Bailey on Thursday asked the Missouri Supreme Court to review two orders issued by a Jackson County judge that have effectively permitted abortions after passage of last year’s abortion-rights amendment.

Jackson County Circuit Judge Jerri Zhang in December temporarily halted the state’s near-total abortion ban and other laws. In February, she blocked specialty licensing requirements for abortion facilities. In March, Planned Parenthood’s St. Louis clinic resumed surgical abortions.

The Republican-led Legislature responded to the rulings April 17 by approving a new law that empowers the attorney general to appeal preliminary actions that enjoin officials from enforcing state statutes.

The attorney general could already appeal final decisions in cases, but by allowing appeals of temporary orders, the new law allows the state to seek to accelerate the appeals process for decisions Republican officials oppose.

Gov. Mike Kehoe, who like Bailey is a Republican, signed the change on Thursday and it took immediate effect.

On Friday, Sean Nicholson, who led a 2018 ballot initiative called “Clean Missouri,� sued in Cole County Circuit Court to overturn the new law, .

Chuck Hatfield, a Jefferson City attorney who is representing Nicholson in the case, said it remains to be seen whether the new power for the attorney general turns out to be a useful tool.

“The Legislature didn’t require that these appeals be expedited,� Hatfield said.

In addition to the new appeal powers for the attorney general, the law also curbs state courts’ ability to rewrite ballot summaries that are determined to be in violation of state law.

Nicholson’s lawsuit argues the new law violates the state constitution including requirements that laws adhere to a single-subject and their original purpose.

The lawsuit also takes aim at a provision allowing the attorney general to appeal preliminary orders issued prior to Aug. 28, 2025, saying it violates the constitution’s prohibition on retroactive laws.

Abigail Bergmann, spokesperson for the Missouri Attorney General’s Office, said in a statement Friday that Bailey filed a notice of appeal “challenging the Court’s decision to strike down common-sense health and safety standards.�

“The women of Missouri deserve basic health and safety standards that safeguard their health and lives,� she said in a statement. “AG Bailey is fighting to defend these standards and uphold the rule of law.�

‘Coordinated effort’

The ACLU and the state’s Planned Parenthood chapters blasted Kehoe’s signing of the legislation in a statement Thursday.

A joint statement by the groups said the attorney general filed the notice of appeal just minutes after the bill was signed, calling it a “coordinated effort.�

The appeal, the groups said, seeks “to reverse the preliminary injunctions currently blocking Missouri’s total abortion ban and many politically motivated, medically unnecessary restrictions on abortion care providers.�

Kehoe’s office, in announcing the bill signing Thursday, said the provision “empowers the attorney general to appeal certain preliminary injunctions, ensuring prompt review of overreaching rulings.�

In addition, the law also allows the secretary of state to rewrite summaries for questions three times before a judge may order new wording.

Kehoe’s office said this provision “establishes a timely revision process to ensure summary statements are clear, accurate, and informative for voters, protecting against judicial overreach.�

The abortion-rights organization Abortion Action Missouri called the legislation the “Let Politicians Lie Act� in a statement after Kehoe signed the bill on Thursday.

Ballot language fights

In pursuit of the abortion-rights amendment, activists challenged ballot wording by then-Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft in court. The Cole County Circuit Court and the Missouri Court of Appeals at Kansas City both rejected Ashcroft’s ballot language.

Appeals Court Judge Thomas Chapman, writing for a three-judge panel, said the secretary’s summary statements were “replete with politically partisan language.�

The wording asked if voters wanted to “allow for dangerous, unregulated, and unrestricted abortions, from conception to live birth, without requiring a medical license or potentially being subject to medical malpractice.�

Mallory Schwarz, director of Abortion Action Missouri, said in a statement that the new law is about attacking abortion providers and undermining the will of the people.

Along with passage of Senate Bill 22, Republicans are also attempting to place a question on the ballot repealing the abortion-rights Amendment 3 that passed in the Nov. 5 election.

The ballot summary Republicans propose doesn’t mention Amendment 3’s repeal, but it emphasizes guaranteed access to abortion in “medical emergencies, ectopic pregnancies, and miscarriages.�

Schwarz said “anti-democracy, anti-abortion politicians put a target on the very same processes Missourians used to get abortion on the ballot in an attempt to undermine and overturn our victory.�