MO AG Takes Aim At Taxpayer Funding Of Planned Parenthood

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey is taking aim at the taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood.

Bailey directed a letter to the state department of social services urging the department to prevent the funding from going to Planned Parenthood due to a prolonged history of violating state law.

Bailey’s letter comes on the heels of a lawsuit against Planned Parenthood for trafficking minors out of state to obtain abortions without parental consent. The letter urges D-S-S “to use every tool” at its disposal to cut off taxpayer funding and to terminate, under the department’s authority, Planned Parenthood’s participation in the MO HealthNet program.

A copy of Bailey’s letter to D-S-S can be found below:

Today, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey directed a letter to Missouri’s Department of Social Services (DSS), urging them to prevent taxpayer funding from going to Planned Parenthood due its prolonged history of violating state law. The letter comes on the heels of General Bailey’s lawsuit against Planned Parenthood for trafficking minors out of state to obtain abortions without parental consent.

In the letter, Attorney General Bailey called on DSS “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 lays 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, the 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 of abortion, physicians at Planned Parenthood were not doing so.

He continued, “These are just the violations that Planned Parenthood has committed but not disputed. 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.’ That conduct not only blatantly violates § 188.250, which prohibits facilitating a minor to obtain an abortion without parental consent, but it also strongly suggests that Planned Parenthood is violating laws that require it to report crimes like statutory rape. Planned Parenthood’s most vigorous defense of its actions so far is that their conduct is legal in other States. But what matters, of course, is whether Planned Parenthood has violated Missouri law. They have. And your agency can terminate their participation agreement for that reason.”

General Bailey concluded, “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. I stand prepared to assist you in any way I can.”

The letter can be viewed here.