Abortion providers say Missouri’s attorney general is trying to get patient records
The Missouri Republican Public Prosecutor is trying to obtain medical records for Planned Parenthood patients who have suffered an abortion, officials said who oversee the Kansas City and Saint-Louis clinics in legal documents.
The fight for the assignments to appear is played out in a trial brought last year by Planned Parenthood Great Plains, the subsidiary of the Kansas City abortion provider, and Planned Parenthood Great Rivers, the subsidiary of St. Louis. Planned Parenthood officials claim that state restrictions violate an amendment to the constitution of the Missouri narrowly approved by voters in November to protect the right to abortion.
The Missouri general prosecutor’s office assigned to appear from the end of August two employees of the Planned Parenthood of Kansas City, a doctor under contract with it and two former members of the Board of Directors of the Planned Parenthood subsidiary of the Saint-Louis region, according to the documents deposited at the Planned Parenthood court last month. A file aimed at canceling the assignments to appear indicated that the Attorney General had required patient files, reports on adverse events and patient care communications, as well as clinical protocols, equipment maintenance files, contractual documents and files related to compliance with state requirements.
“Despite the blatant attempts by the Missouri General Attorney General to overthrow the will of the people, all patients expect and have the right that their medical file will be confidential,” the two affiliates said in a joint statement on Tuesday. “Politicians do not have their place in the examination room with patients and their medical care providers. »»
The Office of Prosecutor General Catherine Hanaway did not immediately respond to an email asking for comments on Tuesday. But in a file filed in June, the State has questioned the repeated declarations of Planned Parenthood officials according to which “abortion rarely leads to medical complications” and that the requirements of the state do not improve the health of the patients.
“The goal of a dispute is to” determine the truth “,” says the file.
The abortion policy has been evolving at the national level since the 2022 decision of the United States Supreme Court which canceled ROE V. Wade and allowed for states to apply prohibitions. Twelve states now prohibit abortion at all stages of pregnancy, with a few exceptions, and women are now more likely to cross the borders of states to abort or obtain them by means of pills shipped by prescribers elsewhere.
A legal battle of several years saw the Missouri oscillate between the ban and the authorization of most abortions. Before last year’s vote, the state had an almost total ban.
In July, judge Jerri Zhang of the County Court of Jackson County in Kansas City, blocked the application of numerous restrictions while the trial continues, in particular the license requirements and a 72 -hour waiting period for the abortions.
The Planned Parenthood clinics practice procedural abortions in St. Louis, Kansas City and Columbia, where the main campus of the University of Missouri is located. Planned Parenthood Great Plains also has two clinics practicing abortions on the Kansas side of the metropolitan region of Kansas City.
Drug abortions remain suspended in the Missouri while Planned Parenthood officials argue with the state about abortion regulations.
Last year’s measurement modified the constitution of the State to guarantee the right to abortion until fetal viability, generally beyond 21 weeks of pregnancy.
The Republican Parliament wishes to return to a ban, with exceptions for pregnancies resulting from rape and incest. He approved a constitutional amendment project in May to do this, but the explanation of the voters whom the legislators wanted on the ballot in 2026 was linked to another trial, deposited before the County Circuit of Cole, the capital of the State of Jefferson City, by a doctor who defended the issue of the ballot last year.
Cole County Judge Daniel Green ruled last month that the summary initially written by the legislators was unfair and could not inform voters that they would repeal the measure of last year. He ordered the Secretary of State for Missouri to rewrite it.
The revision approved by the Greens on Tuesday indicates that the new measure “would repeal article I, section 36, approved in 2024”, but it does not explain what this implies.
___
The journalist of Associated Press David A. Lieb has also contributed since Jefferson City, Missouri.
