Missouri Planned Parenthood allowed to stay open, despite dozens of injuries to women

A dangerous Missouri Planned Parenthood facility will be allowed to remain open, thanks to a ruling from the state’s Administrative Hearing Commission.

Last year, the state of Missouri refused to renew the license for the abortion facility—the only one in the state. That decision was quickly blocked, however, by Missouri Administrative Hearing Commissioner Sreenivasa Rao Dandamudi, which allowed the facility to remain open indefinitely.

The state originally refused to renew the facility’s license due to the astounding number of injuries and botched abortions there; at least 75 women have been injured there. A 2019 press release reads:

While abortion numbers have decreased in recent months, the number of medical emergencies requiring ambulance transport have increased dramatically.

Most recently, three women were transported by ambulance to hospital emergency rooms in a 22-day timespan ending on May 15, 2019. Other recent medical emergencies occurred at RHS Planned Parenthood on April 24 and April 26, 2019. 

At least four women experienced serious, life-threatening issues after the body parts of aborted children were left inside them. One woman nearly bled to death after abortionists there committed an abortion while her placenta partially covered her cervix.

Lawyers for the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, as well as Planned Parenthood, met in a hearing to determine the facility’s fate. After numerous delays, Dandamundi once again allowed the facility to remain open. Shockingly, the facility’s horrifying track record seemed to be of no consequence in his decision. In his ruling, Dandamudi claimed:

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. Ultimately, we have no concerns with the substance of Planned Parenthood’s quality assurance review, and there are no other indications of deficient practices.

READ: Dangerous Missouri Planned Parenthood just injured its 75th patient

A prior state Senate investigation also discovered multiple health and safety violations, including staff instructing women not to call 911 if they experienced complications.

“[P]lanned Parenthood’s own internal files reveal a shocking callousness toward vulnerable young women who seek their services. In fact, the procedures outlined in the materials reviewed may very well constitute outright medical malpractice,” the Senate report read, concluding, “All of this indicates that Planned Parenthood is far more worried about the reputation, business model and public relations efforts than they are about the women in their care. It is difficult to conceive of any other organization, let alone an organization that holds itself out as providing women’s health services, being so recklessly indifferent to the health of their patients as to put such directives as those listed above in print for the use of their employees.”

Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List, slammed the decision to keep the facility open. “Unborn children and their mothers face dire health risks – especially during a pandemic – so long as the St. Louis Planned Parenthood is permitted to remain open,” she said in a statement. “This particular facility’s track record shows an appalling pattern of botched abortions and other violations that prove they are incapable of policing themselves. Planned Parenthood does not deserve special treatment and the health and safety of women and children, which the state health department is tasked with safeguarding, should never come second to the abortion industry’s bottom line. We thank Governor Parson and the Missouri health department for their efforts to hold abortion businesses accountable for harming women.”

The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services has 30 days to appeal the decision.

Editor’s Note 6/2/20: Changes were made to this article to reflect that the decision to allow Planned Parenthood to remain open was made by the Missouri Administrative Hearing Commissioner, not a judge.

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