KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Jackson County judge could pave the way for abortions to take place in Missouri as soon as Friday, even as state Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s office fought in court on Wednesday to preserve a series of restrictions on the procedure.

Missouri voters last month passed Amendment 3, which overturned the state’s abortion ban and protects a right to reproductive freedom. Comprehensive Health of Planned Parenthood Great Plains has sued over the state’s 72-hour abortion waiting period, provider licensing rules and other requirements currently in state law before the amendment formally takes effect on Friday.

Planned Parenthood is prepared to begin offering medication abortions on Friday, including in Kansas City, if a court halts the challenged restrictions, lawyers for the nonprofit organization told Jackson County Circuit Court Judge Jerri Zhang. Planned Parenthood wants a preliminary injunction to stop state agencies and local prosecutors from enforcing those laws.

The judge didn’t immediately issue a decision after a three-and-a-half hour hearing at the Jackson County Courthouse in downtown Kansas City.

Missouri Solicitor General Joshua Divine, representing Bailey and other state officials sued by Planned Parenthood, urged Zhang to keep the laws in place. He repeatedly framed them as necessary for the health and safety of women.

“There’s no actual individual women in this lawsuit and that’s because it’s not in their interest to eliminate these statutes,” Divine said in court.

Divine pitched a truncated version of what Bailey argued at length in legal documents – that while Amendment 3 does end Missouri’s near-total abortion ban, it also protects a right to childbirth. The measure lists childbirth among the matters related to reproductive health care in which the government cannot deny or infringe on someone’s rights.

Some abortion restrictions should remain because of that right to childbirth, Divine argued. A 72-hour waiting period, for instance, gives women time to choose childbirth, he contended.

“They’re forgetting these sorts of laws are enabling childbirth,” Divine said, referring to Planned Parenthood.

Lawyers for Planned Parenthood rejected Divine’s arguments. During the hearing, Eleanor Spottswood, attorney for Planned Parenthood, went law by law, describing each one as interfering with abortion access and, therefore, presumptively unconstitutional.

Amendment 3 includes a “very clear standard” for the court to apply, Sportswoman said. The measure requires any restrictions on abortion before fetal viability must be “presumed invalid” unless the government shows it has a compelling interest achieved by the least-restrictive means.

“The Missouri government has spent decades passing and enforcing laws that restrict abortions … the voters have now changed all that,” Spottswood said.

Zhang, a 2021 appointee of Republican Gov. Mike Parson, avoided opining on the issues during the hours-long hearing but mostly confined her remarks to clarifying questions. She made only one decision, denying a motion by Bailey’s office to dismiss Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker as a defendant and move the case to Cole County.

Bailey’s office has argued that Baker doesn’t plan to enforce Missouri’s abortion laws and because of that shouldn’t be a defendant. In legal filings and in court, an attorney for Baker disputed that, saying she had made no sweeping promises of non-enforcement.

While the location of the lawsuit may seem trivial, it has potentially significant consequences for which judge hears the case and which local prosecutor is placed in a position to defend the state’s abortion laws. Divine said in court that Bailey’s office will appeal Zhang’s decision.

However Zhang rules on the abortion restrictions, the decision will only mark the first step in a legal fight that’s almost certain to end up before the Missouri Supreme Court.

Comprehensive Health of Planned Parenthood Great Plains CEO Emily Wales after the hearing urged the judge to act quickly, before Friday. Planned Parenthood’s lawyers argue that every day without legal clarity after the amendment takes effect represents a day that residents are denied their constitutional rights.

“For our providers to provide care and for patients to access quickly, safely, according to their constitutional rights, we need the judge to act,” Wales told reporters.

Wednesday’s hearing demonstrated that some statewide elected officials, such as Bailey, “think they know better” than health care providers and Missourians, Wales said. She said Planned Parenthood wants providers to be able to work with patients and ensure residents have “standard of care” abortion access, not “substandard options.”

Divine told reporters that Bailey’s office was seeking to affirm the rights included in Amendment 3, pointing to the right to childbirth. He said “a lot of women choose childbirth” after having the opportunity to view an ultrasound, for instance.

Asked what happens if Zhang issues in Planned Parenthood’s favor, Divine seemed girded for a protracted fight.

“Obviously, we hope to prevail at trial,” Divine said. “We’re going to take this through appeals and fight this all the way.”

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