Missouri’s Last Abortion Clinic Gets Licensed Renewed Despite Injuring Dozens of Women

State   |   Micaiah Bilger   |   Jun 25, 2020   |   3:11PM   |   Jefferson City, MO

The Planned Parenthood in St. Louis, Missouri has a long record of putting women’s lives at risk. In one woman’s case, the abortion facility botched her abortion four times before it was completed.

But on Thursday, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services was forced to renew the abortion facility’s license against state health leaders’ better judgment.

The Kansas City Star reports attorneys for Planned Parenthood said they received an email Thursday confirming the one-year license renewal.

The department issued the license after conducting an on-site inspection of the St. Louis Planned Parenthood, the only abortion facility in the state, according to the report.

Yamelsie Rodriguez, CEO of the Missouri Planned Parenthood affiliate, told the local news that the health inspectors were “cordial” during their recent inspection. However, she also claimed the state’s pro-life laws and policies, which protect mothers and unborn babies, are “inflict[ing] harm on patients.”

State health officials fought to shut down the abortion facility, citing major health and safety violations, including “multiple life-threatening abortions.” However, in May, Missouri Administrative Hearing Commissioner Sreenivasa Rao Dandamudi ruled in favor of Planned Parenthood.

Dandamudi argued that the state did not present enough evidence to justify revoking the license, the Star reported at the time. He said the abortion facility showed that it met the state license renewal 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,” he wrote in his decision.

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In the midst of the legal battle, Dr. Randall Williams, director of the state health department, accused Planned Parenthood of trying to vilify his agency for doing its job. He said their decision to revoke the abortion facility’s license was based on serious concerns about patient safety.

Among these concerns was a botched abortion that took five attempts to finish and a failure to report abortion complications to the state. In another case, state health inspectors said a woman had to undergo a second abortion after the abortionist failed to recognize that she was pregnant with twins.

Williams previously said they found 30 deficiencies at the abortion facility, and Planned Parenthood only provided a plan to correct four, ABC News reported at the time. According to NBC, problems found during the March 2019 inspection also included “at least one incident in which patient safety was gravely compromised,” “failed surgical abortions in which women remained pregnant” and failure to obtain “informed consent.”

Additionally, pro-lifers have documented at least 75 occasions when ambulances were called to the abortion facility for women suffering from complications.

However, lawyers for Planned Parenthood argued that the safety concerns are overblown, and state pro-life political leaders just want to shut them down.

The court battle drew national attention because the St. Louis Planned Parenthood is the only abortion facility left in the state. Late last year, however, the abortion chain secretly built another huge new abortion facility just a few miles away, across the Illinois border.

LifeNews has extensively chronicled the litany of health problems at the St. Louis Planned Parenthood:

Planned Parenthood Clinic Killed Baby at 21 Weeks, Breaking Law Banning Abortions After 20 Weeks

Why is a Court Covering Up Info About 74 Botched Abortions at One Planned Parenthood Clinic?

Planned Parenthood Abortion Clinic Nearly Killed a Woman in a Botched Abortion, Lied to Health Department

Planned Parenthood Abortion Clinic Failed Health Inspection So Badly It Got a 60-Page Deficiency Report