Missouri Gov. Mike Parson accused a Planned Parenthood clinic in St. Louis on Wednesday of violating multiple medical laws and safety standards after the organization filed a lawsuit Tuesday to allow the clinic to stay open.
Parson, a Republican, read a series of violations he said the state had identified this year, including three instances in which abortions had failed, causing patients to return to the clinic because they were still pregnant. In another case, the clinic had to call an ambulance so the patient could be transported to a hospital and undergo emergency surgery.
Parson accused Planned Parenthood of flouting Missouri’s abortion laws by failing to conduct ultrasounds for women before they had abortions. He alleged that the clinic had also refused to follow Missouri’s law requiring that the doctors who have patients sign consent forms 72 hours before the procedure are the same doctors who provide the abortions.
“All of these examples are unacceptable and have no place for these women at serious health risks,” Parson said during a press conference in which he ran down the timeline of the dispute. “Planned Parenthood’s apparent disregard for the law, their failure to complete complication records, and the accuracy of medical records are all serious concerns that need to be addressed prior to any license renewal.”
The clinic in question, Reproductive Health Services of Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region, filed suit Tuesday so that its medical license won’t expire Friday. If it’s forced to close, then on Saturday there will be no more abortion clinics in the state, forcing patients to go to Illinois for abortions.
The state had asked the clinic to make doctors who performed abortions available for interviews so that it could fall in line with the safety requirements. Planned Parenthood accused the state health department of incorrectly targeting its clinic out of ideological opposition to abortion, and said that interview questions for doctors and residents would be “bordering on harassment.” Parson, they pointed out, had recently signed a law banning abortion after eight weeks into a pregnancy.
Parson said the fact that the St. Louis clinic was the last remaining abortion provider in the state shouldn’t weigh into a judge’s decision, given the medical accusations. He noted the clinic still had two days to comply with the state’s requests, which he said were not different than that of other medical facilities. If Planned Parenthood was following the law, then it shouldn’t worry about the interviews, he said.
“It would be reckless for any judge to grant a temporary restraining order ruling before the state has taken action on a license renewal,” Parson said. “No judge should give special treatment to Planned Parenthood in this instance.”
Planned Parenthood said Tuesday that it would not make doctors and medical residents available, but Parson said the state on Tuesday conducted two of the seven interviews it requested. He said Planned Parenthood waited until the last minute to file its licensing renewal but hadn’t fixed the violations the state raised concerns about two months ago.
“If you break the law, there are serious consequences,” Parson said. “If you don’t provide a standard of care that ensures the safety of women, then you shouldn’t be allowed to operate. It’s that simple.”
