St. Louis’ notorious Planned Parenthood clinic has been given yet another extension that will allow it to operate for several more months without a valid license.
This abortion clinic — the last one in Missouri — had its license expire at the end of May. On June 21, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services officially declined to renew the license. Department Director Randall Williams explained that the clinic had been cited for 30 health code violations, of which only four had been addressed.
Despite this, later on June 21, St. Louis Circuit Court Judge Michael Stelzer ruled that the clinic could remain open while submitting an appeal to the Missouri Administrative Hearing Commission. “The Court has no authority to intercede in this matter until there has been a final decision by the AHC,” Stelzer’s ruling said.
Last Friday, the Administrative Hearing Commission scheduled Planned Parenthood’s hearing for August 1. “[Planned Parenthood] has an active license that shall remain in effect for the pendency of (the) case at this commission,” Commissioner Sreenivasa Rao Dandamudi said. But yesterday, Dandamudi rescheduled that hearing for the last week of October. This will allow Planned Parenthood to operate for an additional three months without a license.
Also, remember that the infractions that created this situation occurred well before the license expired at the end of May, so the clinic has been operating in violation of the law for even longer.
The issues presented here go far beyond the concerns of unborn children. This clinic has violated the law and threatened the public health in several ways, including failing to properly inform patients about their abortion procedures and failing to properly sterilize medical instruments. Additionally, the clinic has had to make 72 calls to 911 over the past decade. There is nothing explicitly pro-life about recognizing that it’s not safe to allow this clinic to continue operating.
Hopefully, this clinic will be closed for good after the hearing in October. But given how much the government has done to help it so far, I’m not holding my breath.
