Missouri’s health department has denied a license renewal for the state’s lone abortion clinic, but a court order allows Planned Parenthood of St. Louis to continue performing the procedure – for now.

Health department director Randall Williams said Friday the state could not approve the renewal after discovering 30 deficiencies at the clinic earlier this year. Four have been corrected so far, Williams said.

In one instance, the clinic performed a failed abortion where a woman found out five weeks later she was still pregnant, Williams said.

“We feel we have a duty to prevent future harm, to prevent future accidents or bad outcomes from happening again,” Williams said.

Jesse Lawder, spokesman for Planned Parenthood of St. Louis, said Friday, "we’ve responded to every deficiency the state has cited, and we take safety very seriously."

Williams' announcement came after St. Louis Circuit Judge Michael Stelzer ordered the health department to make a decision on the St. Louis clinic's license renewal by Friday.

Stelzer said a preliminary injunction he previously issued to keep the clinic operating would remain in place until he makes a final ruling.

"As a practical matter, the license denial has no immediate impact on patients at our center," Lawder said.

Stelzer said he would issue a written order outlining next steps, but he was not sure if the order would come on Friday.

If the Planned Parenthood facility stops offering the procedure, Missouri would be the first state without legal abortion since the Supreme Court's landmark Roe v. Wade decision in 1973.

Abortion rights advocates say ending services at Planned Parenthood in St. Louis would force women seeking abortion to travel to neighboring states, such as Kansas or Illinois, to get the procedure. Kansas has an abortion clinic in Overland Park, a Kansas City suburb just 2 miles from the state line. The nearest clinic to St. Louis is in Granite City, Illinois, less than 10 miles away.

Information from Kansas shows that about 3,300 of the 7,000 abortions performed in the state last year involved Missouri residents.

Williams also said Friday the state would back off a requirement for physicians to perform two pelvic exams on patients before a surgical abortion.

Planned Parenthood of St. Louis on Thursday said it would no longer perform two.

Dr. Colleen McNicholas, an abortion provider at the clinic, called it "deeply traumatizing and inhumane" to force a pelvic exam on patients 72 hours before the abortion when she will have an identical exam the day of the procedure.

Last month, Missouri joined several other states that have passed some of the most restrictive abortion bans the nation has seen since Roe when Republican Gov. Mike Parson signed a bill that outlaws abortion after the eighth week of pregnancy without exceptions for cases of rape or incest.

The law, which goes into effect Aug. 28, barring a legal challenge, says doctors who perform abortions after eight weeks could face five to 15 years in prison. The measure includes exceptions for medical emergencies, such as when there is a risk of death or permanent physical injuries to "a major bodily function of the pregnant woman."

The number of abortions performed in Missouri has declined every year for the past decade, reaching a low of 2,910 last year. Of those, an estimated 1,210 occurred at eight weeks or less of pregnancy, according to health department data.

Contributing: Associated Press