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'The Most Dangerous Abortion Facility in America' Resisting Health Officials, on Verge of Closure

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The fate of a Missouri abortion clinic denounced by the pro-life group Operation Rescue as “the most dangerous abortion facility in America” was in a judge’s hands Friday after state officials refused to back down in their demands that the Planned Parenthood clinic in St. Louis conform to state regulations or stop providing abortions.

Planned Parenthood’s license to operate the clinic expires at midnight Friday. Without a renewal the state has refused to provide, the clinic can no longer perform abortions.

As the case has neared its climax, Planned Parenthood officials have painted the state as trying to deprive Missouri residents of abortion access assured by the 1973 Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade, because if the facility closes, Missouri would not have any clinics that provide abortions.

However, Republican Missouri Gov. Mike Parson said the issue is the heath and safety of the women who go to the clinic.

“There are a number of serious health concerns that still exist at the Planned Parenthood St. Louis facility,” Parson said at a news conference Wednesday, according to The Washington Times. “We should all agree that regardless of the number of abortion facilities, every step should be taken to ensure that all laws are followed for the safety and well-being of women’s health care.”

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Operation Rescue said ambulances were called to the clinic three times in the past month, and that the clinic was dinged for multiple problems in a 2017 state inspection, according to The Times.

That’s still the case. Parson said a state inspection in March found “numerous violations of state laws and regulations.”

He said Planned Parenthood had broken rules mandating that the physician performing the abortion obtain the woman’s informed consent. Three times, Parson said, women who thought they had gotten abortions returned to the clinic “after realizing they were still pregnant.”

Parson cited another case of a patient taken to a hospital for emergency surgery.

Should the court let the state stop abortions at the St. Louis clinic?

“All of these examples are unacceptable and have placed these women at serious health risk,” he said.

“For months during this process, Planned Parenthood has been reluctant to cooperate with state officials, including withholding access to interviews of abortion doctors,” Parson said, noting that Planned Parenthood triggered the crisis by waiting until the last minute to file its renewal paperwork.

“These actions are unprecedented,” he said.

Dr. Leana Wen, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, defended the clinic in an interview with PBS.

“It’s simply not true,” Wen said, referring to accusations that the clinic has violated rules and put patients in danger.

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“Actually, what’s happened is that, over the last decade, the state has layered on restriction upon restriction, things that have no basis in medicine or science, things like forced 72-hour waiting period, mandating that hallways have to be extra wide, even forcing, most recently, for women to undergo multiple invasive pelvic exams for no medical reason,” she said.

“The National Academy of Medicine had said that these types of regulations are burdensome, that they just impede medical care, and have no basis in medicine,” she added.

Wen said Missouri is using the inspection process as a political tool to restrict abortion.

The Western Journal has reached out to Wen for further comment, but none had been received as of Friday morning.

Parson denied Wen’s allegation that the clinic issue is all about politics.

It’s not a “pro-life issue at all,” he said, The Associated Press reported.

“This is about a standard of care for women in Missouri, whether it’s this clinic or any other clinic or any other hospital, they should have to meet the same standard.”

That same argument was advanced in court Thursday by John Sauer, a lawyer for the state, who said the refusal of doctors at the facility to be interviewed as part of the renewal process is “unprecedented,” according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Planned Parenthood has sued the state, demanding a temporary order that would keep its license in place.

“We’ve raised serious concerns that need to be addressed,” Sauer said.

The current situation was “created by the refusal of the doctors to cooperate and the failure of the regulated entity to induce them to cooperate,” he said.

Missouri Circuit Court Judge Michael Stelzer heard arguments on Planned Parenthood’s lawsuit on Thursday.

Parsons, meanwhile, recently signed a law that would ban most abortions after about eight weeks into a pregnancy.

That law takes effect Aug. 28.

UPDATE, May 31, 2019: A circuit court judge granted a temporary restraining order Friday afternoon preventing the state from closing the Planned Parenthood clinic in Missouri, meaning that the clinic can continue to operate for the next several days. The court will take up the matter again Tuesday.

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Jack Davis is a freelance writer who joined The Western Journal in July 2015 and chronicled the campaign that saw President Donald Trump elected. Since then, he has written extensively for The Western Journal on the Trump administration as well as foreign policy and military issues.
Jack Davis is a freelance writer who joined The Western Journal in July 2015 and chronicled the campaign that saw President Donald Trump elected. Since then, he has written extensively for The Western Journal on the Trump administration as well as foreign policy and military issues.
Jack can be reached at jackwritings1@gmail.com.
Location
New York City
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Topics of Expertise
Politics, Foreign Policy, Military & Defense Issues




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