Missouri AG urges state to stop taxes going to Planned Parenthood

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey this week sent a letter to the state’s Department of Social Services, urging it to prevent taxpayer funding from going to Planned Parenthood because of its prolonged history of violating state law. The letter comes on the heels of his lawsuit against Planned Parenthood for trafficking minors out of state to obtain abortions without parental consent.

Bailey called on the agency “to use every legal tool at your disposal to ensure that Planned Parenthood does not receive another dime of taxpayer funds. Your regulations permit you to terminate an organization from participation in MO HealthNet for violating the law. Planned Parenthood has incurred a sordid history of doing exactly that, putting countless Missourians at risk.”

In the letter, Attorney General Bailey laid out Planned Parenthood’s pattern of statutory violations:

• In 2018, following at least a half decade of health-code violations, Planned Parenthood’s facility in Columbia was shut down after staff admitted to having used moldy abortion equipment on women for months.
• Also in 2018, Planned Parenthood physicians conceded in open court that for at least 15 years, the organization failed to comply with state law requiring physicians performing abortions to file reports when women experience medical complications from abortions.
• In 2020, an Administrative Hearing Commission determined that even though Missouri law at the time required that the same physician who performs an abortion be the one to notify the woman of the risks, physicians at Planned Parenthood were not doing so.

“These are just the violations that Planned Parenthood has committed but not disputed,” Bailey said. “Other violations abound. Last week, I sued Planned Parenthood after an undercover reporter caught its staff admitting that they traffic minors across state lines for abortions — without parental consent — and that they do this ‘every day.’

“Missourians’ hard-earned tax dollars should not go to any entity that uses moldy equipment on women, that facilitates minors obtaining abortions without parental consent and that refuses to file legally mandated complication reports after harming women. In light of this persistent pattern of violations, Planned Parenthood should not be in business in Missouri at all. They certainly should not be receiving public funds.”

Bailey has been making the demands since March.

–Alan Goforth | Metro Voice