The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that the state of Missouri must allow a prison inmate to have an abortion.

Over the weekend, the state won a temporary stay, after a federal judge ruled that the state had to provide transportation to take the inmate to the abortion clinic.

But the justices lifted that stay Monday, without comment.

Missouri has a state law that bans the spending of taxpayer dollars to facilitate an abortion.

Justice Clarence Thomas, acting alone, granted a stay late Friday night. But the full Supreme Court lifted that without comment Monday.

Gov. Matt Blunt said the original decision "offends Missouri values."

The woman, described as being in her 20s, says she discovered
she was pregnant shortly after being arrested in California on a Missouri parole violation.

She says she tried to get an abortion in California but was transferred back to Missouri before it could be performed.

The high court also gave tobacco companies a major victory Monday.

Justices refused to let the Bush administration pursue a $280 billion penalty from the industry, on claims that it misled the public about the dangers of smoking.

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