By AP/KWMU
St. Louis – Dozens of abortions were canceled at a St. Louis clinic Friday following the enactment of Missouri's 24-hour waiting law.
A federal appeals court Thursday lifted a temporary injunction that had been in place against the law since October. The ruling surprised activists on both sides of the abortion debate and allowed the law to immediately take effect.
The law requires physicians to wait 24 hours to perform an abortion after consulting with women about such things as physical, psychological and situational risk factors.
A Planned Parenthood clinic in St. Louis had to cancel or delay all 40 abortions scheduled for Friday.
Missouri has just two other abortion clinics--one each in Columbia and Springfield. Neither of those had planned to perform abortions Friday.