State v. Reproductive Health Services of Planned Parenthood of St. Louis Region, Inc.

97 S.W.3d 54, 2002 Mo. App. LEXIS 2273, 2002 WL 31548859
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedNovember 19, 2002
DocketED 79435
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 97 S.W.3d 54 (State v. Reproductive Health Services of Planned Parenthood of St. Louis Region, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Reproductive Health Services of Planned Parenthood of St. Louis Region, Inc., 97 S.W.3d 54, 2002 Mo. App. LEXIS 2273, 2002 WL 31548859 (Mo. Ct. App. 2002).

Opinions

PER CURIAM.

Reproductive Health Services of Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Dr. Robert Crist, M.D. (collectively “RHS”) appeal and the State of Mis[56]*56souri cross-appeals various aspects of the declaratory judgment entered in the State’s action seeking construction of the Missouri Infant’s Protection Act (the “Act”), section 565.300 RSMo 2000.1 RHS asserts the trial court erred in construing the Act to contain an exemption from liability for prohibited acts undertaken to preserve the health of the mother. RHS and the State both appeal paragraph (6) of the judgment on the ground that it is inconsistent with legislative intent as construed by the court elsewhere in its memorandum. The State also seeks additional declaratory relief. We reverse and strike paragraph (7) judgment construing the Act to contain an exemption from liability for prohibited acts undertaken to preserve the health of the mother. We modify paragraph (6) of the judgment. As so modified, we affirm the judgment in all other respects.

The standard of review for a declaratory judgment is the same as that established in Murphy v. Carron, 536 S.W.2d 30 (Mo.1976), for court-tried cases. Laclede County v. Douglass, 43 S.W.3d 826, 827 (Mo. banc 2001). The judgment of the trial court will be affirmed unless there is no substantial evidence to support it, it is against the weight of the evidence, or it erroneously declares or applies the law. Murphy, 536 S.W.2d at 32. However, construction of a statute is purely a matter of law, which must be reviewed de novo. Martinez v. State, 24 S.W.3d 10, 15 (Mo.App.2000).

The Missouri General Assembly passed the Act in 1999. The Governor vetoed the bill. However, the Act became law after the General Assembly overrode the veto on September 16, 1999. The Act provides:

1. This section shall be known and may be cited as the “Infant’s Protection Act”.
2. As used in this section, and only in this section, the following terms shall mean:
(1) “Born”, complete separation of an intact child from the mother regardless of whether the umbilical cord is cut or the placenta detached;
(2) “Living infant”, a human child, born or partially born, who is alive, as determined in accordance with the usual and customary standards of medical practice and is not dead as determined pursuant to section 194.005, RSMo, relating to the determination of the occurrence of death, and has not attained the age of thirty days post birth;
(3) “Partially born”, partial separation of a child from the mother with the child’s head intact with the torso. If vaginally delivered, a child is partially separated from the mother when the head in a cephalic presentation, or any part of the torso above the navel in a breech presentation, is outside the mother’s external cervical os. If delivered abdominally, a child is partially separated from the mother when the child’s head in a cephalic presentation, or any part of the torso above the navel in a breech presentation, is outside the mother’s external abdominal wall.
3. A person is guilty of the crime of infanticide if such person causes the death of a living Infant with the purpose to cause said death by an overt act performed when the infant is partially born or born.
4. The crime of infanticide shall be a class A felony.
5. A physician using procedures consistent with the usual and customary [57]*57standards of medical practice to save the life of the mother during pregnancy or birth or to save the life of any unborn or partially born child of the same pregnancy shall not be criminally responsible under this section. In no event shall the mother be criminally responsible pursuant to this section for the acts of the physician if the physician is not held criminally responsible pursuant to this section.
6. This section shall not apply to any person who performs or attempts to perform a legal abortion if the act that causes the death is performed prior to the child being partially born, even though the death of the child occurs as a result of the abortion after the child is partially born.
7. Only that person who performs the overt act required under subsection 3 of this section shall be culpable under this section, unless a person, with the purpose of committing infanticide, does any act which is a substantial step towards the commission of the offense which results in the death of the living infant. A “substantial step” is conduct which is strongly corroborative of the firmness of the actor’s purpose to complete the commission of the offense.
8. Nothing in this section shall be interpreted to exclude the defenses otherwise available to any person under the law including defenses provided pursuant to chapters 562 and 563, RSMo.

Section 565.300.

The day after the General Assembly overrode the Governor’s veto, RHS brought suit in the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri seeking injunctive relief against enforcement of the Act. The district court entered a temporary restraining order enjoining the Act and later extended the order until it made a final disposition and order on RHS’s request for a preliminary and permanent injunction. The trial was scheduled for March 2000.

On January 5, 2000, the State filed a petition for declaratory relief against RHS in the Circuit Court for the City of St. Louis. The next day, the State filed a motion in the district court to stay the federal litigation under Railroad Comm’n of Texas v. Pullman, 312 U.S. 496, 61 S.Ct. 643, 85 L.Ed. 971 (1941), until the present case was adjudicated. The district court denied the State’s motion and issued an injunction enjoining the parties from proceeding in the litigation in the circuit court. The State appealed the district court’s order and injunction to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. In March 2000, the Eighth Circuit stayed all proceedings in the federal district court and allowed the state litigation to go forward.

After the Eighth Circuit’s ruling, the State filed its First Amended Petition for Declaratory Judgment seeking to have the circuit court declare the scope and meaning of the Act (Count I) and also sought to have the Act declared valid under the Missouri Constitution (Count II). RHS moved to stay all proceedings pending the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Stenberg v. Carhart, 530 U.S. 914, 120 S.Ct. 2597, 147 L.Ed.2d 743 (2000), moved to dismiss part of Count I and all of Count II, and moved for judgment on the pleadings as to the remainder of Count I. The circuit court dismissed Count II for lack of a case or controversy, but denied the remainder of RHS’s motions. Therefore, Count I is the only count in the State’s petition at issue in this court. Count I requested the following relief:

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Bluebook (online)
97 S.W.3d 54, 2002 Mo. App. LEXIS 2273, 2002 WL 31548859, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-reproductive-health-services-of-planned-parenthood-of-st-louis-moctapp-2002.