A Missouri Senate committee said it discovered “callous” practices and procedures at Planned Parenthood facilities across the state that put women in danger and even bordered on “outright medical malpractice.”
The Missouri Senate Interim Sanctity of Life Committee released its report of Planned Parenthood on Tuesday after a months-long investigation, The Missouri Times reports. The investigation was prompted by a series of undercover videos showing Planned Parenthood officials discussing the sales of aborted babies’ body parts.
State Sen. Kurt Schaefer, who led the Senate investigation and faced death threats for his work, said the committee found “callous” practices and procedures at Planned Parenthood facilities in Missouri. He said these potentially illegal practices and serious deficiencies “bordered on outright medical malpractice.”
The state Senate investigation has faced an uphill battle. Planned Parenthood in Missouri and its supporters tried to hinder the investigation by not replying to government subpoenas for information. Upon threat of jail time and fines, Planned Parenthood officials finally negotiated a deal to comply with the subpoena.
However, a pathologist who contracts with Planned Parenthood in Missouri and who also was subpoenaed refused to comply and invoked his Fifth Amendment rights against self incrimination.
As a result, state Senators said they still are missing a lot of information about the inner workings of the abortion chain and the handling of aborted babies’ bodies in the state.
Here’s more from the report:
Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Glendale, noted that after a year of investigations and inquiries, there were still ambiguities in what had actually occurred.
“What is clear is there are many things that are unclear,” Schmitt said. “All sort of things point to this pathologist … and the pathologist does nothing but plead the Fifth Amendment… It’s his constitutional right to do so, but it certainly leaves a lot of unanswered questions.”
… The senators also alleged the use of digoxin, which can cause cardiac arrest in large enough doses, as a way to skirt the “Born Alive Infant Protection Act,” problems with informed consent forms given to abortion recipients at Planned Parenthood, and that Planned Parenthood’s protocols could “inhibit timely response by emergency medical services” as causes for concern.
The investigation also found that abortion clinics sometimes sent entire aborted babies’ bodies to the pathology lab, rather than a tissue sample of the aborted baby, as is required by law, according to the report. In addition, four pathology reports of tissue samples for aborted babies after eight weeks listed “no fetal tissue identifiable,” the report states.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch has more about the investigation:
Republicans also took issue with Planned Parenthood’s emergency response, saying consent forms list its own help line, rather than telling women to call 911. They also point to written instructions to Planned Parenthood staff that say if 911 must be called, staffers should request no sirens be used by the ambulance, refrain from telling paramedics the emergency is abortion related and keep paramedics out of the procedure room unless absolutely necessary.
… A Senate report detailing the findings called for the strengthening of Missouri’s laws on inspections, medical malpractice, transparency and whistleblower protections as a possible response. Otherwise, it’s unclear what further measures may be taken, as the special committee dissolved at the end of the legislative session.
State Sen. Bob Onder, who also is a surgeon, said these are “red flags” that should have been investigated.
“This inattention to detail demonstrates a startling level of recklessness by the medical staff at Planned Parenthood who should have immediately noticed this anomaly,” Onder said.
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Planned Parenthood leaders in Missouri dismissed the report as nothing more than a politically-motivated “attack,” according to the local news.
Missouri state officials began investigating the Planned Parenthood abortion business after the Center for Medical Progress released the first of its shocking undercover videos last summer. St. Louis was mentioned in one undercover video as a possible location to obtain aborted baby parts. The investigation also revealed a relationship between Planned Parenthood and the University of Missouri.
In November, LifeNews reported state Sen. Kurt Schaefer received a death threat, which he believes was linked to his leadership of the Planned Parenthood investigation.
