A group is trying to end abortions at the one Missouri facility left that provides the service. Pro-life advocates want the license of the St. Louis Planned Parenthood revoked and an investigation involving about 60 ambulance responses that have been made to the clinic since 2009. A St. Louis Fire Department report does not say whether those 911 calls involve complications from abortions.
Representative Mike Moon (photo courtesy; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)
State Rep. Mike Moon (R-Ash Grove) tells Missourinet the call to rescind the clinic’s license and conduct an investigation is in response to a lawsuit Planned Parenthood has filed that aims to end some of the state’s requirements for abortion providers.
The organization is challenging Missouri’s regulations for its doctors performing abortions to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital and abortion clinics to follow requirements for surgical centers. Those state laws were enacted in 2005. A U.S. Supreme Court ruling in June struck down similar laws in Texas, prompting Planned Parenthood to file the lawsuit. Abortion opponents say Texas’ laws are different from Missouri’s laws and are confident the current requirements will stand.
“Anyone who’s logically thinking, whether they’re for abortion or against it, that should be a prominent topic that wherever anyone is going for medical services, that those should be administered with the best interests of the patient in mind,” says Moon.
In a release from the anti-abortion activists, it states that whistleblowers would release new information which will require “swift and critical action by authorities”. They want a vigorous defense of the lawsuit by Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster (D) and the prosecuting attorneys in Greene, Jasper, Boone and Jackson counties.
“The primary concern comes down to safety of the women,” says Moon.
Laura McQuade
As far as whistleblowers go, Moon says pro-life advocates want to instead “sound the alarm” by issuing a safety alert and urging extreme caution to women who use the organization’s abortion services.
Planned Parenthood officials say the goal of their lawsuit is to restore abortion practices at the clinics in Joplin, Springfield, Columbia and Kansas City. The organization is also asking a federal judge to block the regulations by way of a preliminary injunction. If granted, the injunction could allow those clinics to offer abortions before a judge gives a final ruling.
St. Louis Planned Parenthood President and CEO Mary Kogut says it follows the highest standards of medical care.
“We will stand by our safety record. We’ll stand by the care we’re providing – the expert care that we’re providing every single day and have provided for years,” says Kogut.
President and CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Plains Laura McQuade says the pro-life efforts are political.
“This is nothing new. The speakers of these so-called press conferences are consistent in their attempts to shame and stigmatize abortion using baseless attacks to further their own message,” says McQuade.
She says Planned Parenthood has been exonerated from any wrongdoing countless times.
See the ambulance report by clicking here.
