Missouri AG orders Planned Parenthood to stop medication abortions they don’t offer

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey issued cease-and-desist orders against Planned Parenthood facilities in the state to bar them from offering medication abortions even though they do not provide them.

“Planned Parenthood has a documented history of subverting state law, including failure to file complication reports,” Bailey said in a press release issued Wednesday.

“This cease and desist letter ensures that basic health and safety standards are met. Given Planned Parenthood’s history, I will continue to ensure their compliance with state law.”

Missourians voted to enshrine abortion rights into the state constitution last November, but abortion services were paused and only recently restarted at the state’s two Planned Parenthood clinics: Planned Parenthood Great Rivers and Planned Parenthood Great Plains.

Both clinics began performing only surgical abortions in Missouri this month since, under state law, neither facility can provide patients with abortion medication until they receive approval for a complication plan.

The orders come roughly a week after Bailey issued a notice of intent to file a cease-and-desist order against the Planned Parenthood clinics for allegedly violating Missouri state law.

Bailey claims in a press release published along with the orders that the clinics are offering medication abortions without approved complication plans.

Both Planned Parenthood clinics said they are not providing medication abortions in accordance with state law and, in a statement, added they submitted complication plans in February but have yet to receive a response from the state Department of Health and Senior Services.

Margot Riphagen, CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Rivers, called the orders “baseless political posturing.

“There is nothing to cease or desist,” she said in a statement sent to The Hill. “Missouri’s Planned Parenthood health centers have complied with the law, and have been waiting weeks for approval of our complication plan in order to begin offering medication abortion to our patients."

She added that the attorney general should enforce a timeline for the Department of Health and Senior Services to respond to the complication plan.

“Medication abortion has not been available at our Missouri health centers since 2018, and we will not provide medication abortion until we meet legal requirements,” said Emily Wales, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Plains.

The Department of Health and Senior Services did not respond to questions from The Hill about the complication plans submitted by both Planned Parenthood health clinics.

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