Law tougher on abortion providers

Abortion providers will face new regulations for their clinics and new restrictions on teaching sex education classes under a bill Gov. Matt Blunt signed into law in Jefferson City.

The measure places more abortion clinics under government oversight by classifying them as ambulatory surgical centers. Planned Parenthood has said the law could force it to spend as much as $2 million to remodel one of its clinics and halt medical abortions at another site.

The law also bars people affiliated with abortion providers from teaching or supplying materials for public school sex education, and it allows schools to offer abstinence-only programs. Blunt proclaimed the law “one of the strongest pieces of pro-life legislation in Missouri history.”