After a lengthy and contentious court case, the last abortion clinic in Missouri, Planned Parenthood of St. Louis and Southwest Missouri, will remain open.
The fight between Planned Parenthood and the State of Missouri has been going on for years. It started in Columbia, Missouri, where the Planned Parenthood location was forced to close temporarily after state inspectors found health violations, including mold and bodily fluid in some of the abortion equipment. The physician servicing the clinic also failed to receive admitting privileges to the local hospital. As of today, that clinic is no longer providing abortions.
The state’s attention then turned to St. Louis, where the abortion business had a large clinic. In May 2019, Missouri denied that Planned Parenthood facility a license to perform abortions after a handful of patients had multiple failed abortion attempts and the business refused to comply with certain state regulations, including denying the state access to former and current abortionists associated with the facility. In fact, over the last year the clinic has been incredibly close to closing multiple times, but it now looks like that won’t happen anytime in the near future.
In a 97-page decision, Administrative Hearing Commissioner Sreenivasa Rao Dandamudi sided with Planned Parenthood and stated his belief that the abortion business met all of the state’s regulatory requirements.
“Planned Parenthood has demonstrated that it provides safe and legal abortion care. In over 4,000 abortions provided since 2018, the department has only identified two causes to deny its license,” Danadmudi wrote. “Ultimately, we have no concerns with the substance of Planned Parenthood’s quality assurance review, and there are no other indications of deficient practices.”
I’m sure that many others would strongly disagree.
Planned Parenthood and other abortion businesses have a history of disregarding the rules in order to continue making money by providing abortions. Kermit Gosnell, the abortionist who killed three women, mutilated many others and killed perhaps hundreds or thousands of babies, is just one example. He was allowed to practice in part because the state was unwilling to review the conditions at his clinic, which included babies in refrigerators, cats roaming the halls and such disregard for medical ethics and cleanliness that many of the police officers who raided his facility because of a narcotics investigation were left deeply disturbed.
There is also the recent discovery of nearly 3,000 preborn remains in the possession of deceased abortionist Ulrich Klopfer in his home and a car. Violating all kinds of medical ethics and showing a callous disregard for the remains of preborn babies. It was also discovered that Klopfer did not secure the medical records of thousands of his patients, violating doctor/patient confidentiality and HIPPA regulations.
Though the Gosnell and Klopfer situations were extreme, it’s an example of a broader problem within the abortion industry and local governments. Due to the political nature of abortions, some local and state governments are willing to give abortion businesses a pass when it comes to state oversight.
Abby Johnson, a former Planned Parenthood employee, claims that she and others were providing women with medications and ultrasounds, though they had no official training or license, and most hardly ever saw a physician on-site unless it was the abortion day.
Planned Parenthood is a business that cares about money, not the health and welfare of women. The state’s decision to ignore its own regulations in favor of the abortion industry will leave the women of Missouri vulnerable to the machinations of Planned Parenthood’s coercive tactics.
Though this decision is a setback, pray that the people of Missouri do not give up the fight for life.